User equipment configured to transmit a food model to a cooking apparatus

ABSTRACT

A user equipment is provided. The user equipment includes a user interface, a transceiver and a processor. The user interface may receive an input of a food model including at least one of a shape, an ingredient, or a color of a food in accordance with a touch input of a user. The transceiver may transmit information of the food model to a cooking apparatus capable of shaping and heating the food. The processor may transmit the information of the food model to the cooking apparatus via the transceiver to allow the cooking apparatus to shape the food according to the food model. Further, the user interface may display an automatic cooking button, a draw button, a cooking method button, and an output button.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of a U.S.Provisional application filed on Jul. 11, 2016 in the U. S. Patent andTrademark Office and assigned Ser. No. 62/360,654, and under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a Korean patent application filed on Aug. 12, 2016 in theKorean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial number10-2016-0103141, the entire disclosure of each of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a cooking apparatus and a cookingsystem. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a userequipment, a cooking apparatus, and a cooking system to whichthree-dimensional (3D) printing technology is applied.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, cooking apparatuses using three-dimensional (3D)printing technology have drawing considerable attention. A cookingapparatus is an appliance for cooking food and a 3D printer is a devicecapable of producing a 3D object.

A user may easily cook a desired food using a cooking apparatus having a3D printing function. For example, when the user inputs a recipe of afood to be cooked to the cooking apparatus, printing and cooking of thefood are processed, and then the user may obtain the desired food aftera predetermined time. In this manner, the user may easily cook a desiredfood by using the cooking apparatus having the 3D printing function.Since the cooking apparatus having the 3D printing function may reducethe burden of cooking on the user, the demand for a cooling apparatushaving a 3D printing function is expected to continue to increase.

The cooking apparatus may include a cartridge to contain foodingredients used to print a food and an extruding unit to extrude thefood ingredients contained in the cartridge. If the food ingredientscontained in the cartridge are not appropriately extruded, it isexpected that a large amount of the food ingredients is thrown out in astate of being contained in the cartridge. Thus, there is a need todevelop methods of preventing a waste of food ingredients.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentdisclosure is to provide a cooking apparatus having an improvedstructure suitable for cooking various foods by using three-dimensional(3D) printing technology.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a user equipmentand a cooking apparatus capable of displaying a food shape in responseto a touch input of a user and shaping the food according to thedisplayed food shape.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a user equipmentand a cooking apparatus allowing a user to easily input a food shape.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a user equipmentand a cooking apparatus capable of showing an appearance of a foodshaped in accordance with the food shape input by the user afterheating.

Additional aspects of the disclosure will be set forth in part in thedescription which follows and, in part, will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a user equipmentis provided. The user equipment includes a user interface, a transceiverand a processor. The user interface may receive an input of a food modelincluding at least one of a shape, an ingredient, or a color of a foodin accordance with a touch input of a user. The transceiver may transmitinformation of the food model to a cooking apparatus capable of shapingand heating the food. The processor may transmit the information of thefood model to the cooking apparatus via the transceiver to allow thecooking apparatus to shape the food according to the food model.Further, the user interface may display an automatic cooking button forselecting a predetermined food shape, a draw button for inputting a foodshape drawn on the user interface by the user, a cooking method buttonfor inputting a cooking method for the food, and an output button foroutputting the food in accordance with the food shape and the cookingmethod.

The processor may display a list of food shapes on the user interface inresponse to a touch on the automatic cooking button.

The processor may identify food ingredients prepared in the cookingapparatus and display a list of foods shapeable from the foodingredients.

The processor may display a food shape selected by the user.

The processor may transmit the food model including the selected foodshape to the cooking apparatus to allow the cooking apparatus to shapethe food according to the food shape selected by the user.

The processor may identify food ingredients prepared in the cookingapparatus and display an insufficient food ingredient to shape the foodaccording to the food shape selected by the user.

The processor may display a model drawing screen to draw the food shapeselected by the user on the user interface in response to a touch on thedraw button.

The processor may sense a touch point of the user and create a foodshape based on a moving path of the sensed touch point.

The processor may display a reference image representing the food on themodel drawing screen.

The processor may display at least one of a line, a circle, or polygonin accordance with a touch input of the user in a model drawing regionand create the food shape from the at least one of the line, the circle,and the polygon.

When the user touches the inside of the food shape, the processor maydisplay an additional information input menu for inputting thethickness, an ingredient, and a color of the food.

The processor may display a cooking method setting screen for inputtinga cooking method including a heating temperature and a heating time onthe user interface in response to a touch on the cooking method button.

The processor may transmit the cooking method to the cooking apparatusto allow the cooking apparatus to cook the food according to the heatingtemperature and the heating time input via the cooking method settingscreen.

The processor may display a preview of the food and the preview of foodmay represent an appearance of the food after cooking by the cookingapparatus in response to a touch on the output button.

The preview of the food may represent the appearance of the food afterthe food is cooked according to the heating temperature and the heatingtime input by the user.

The processor may modify a size of the food shape in accordance with thetouch input of the user.

The processor may automatically arrange the food shape in accordancewith the touch input of the user.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a userequipment is provided. The user equipment includes a user interface, astorage, a transceiver and a processor. The user interface may receive atouch input of a user and display an image in response to the touchinput. The storage may store information on a plurality of food shapesrepresenting appearances of foods. The transceiver may transmitinformation of a food shape to a cooking apparatus capable of shapingand heating a food. The processor may display a food shape selected bythe user among the plurality of food shapes on the user interface andtransmit the information of the food shape to the cooking apparatus viathe transceiver to allow the cooking apparatus to shape the food inaccordance with a food model.

The processor may detect a region closed by the selected food shape andinputs an ingredient and color of the food.

The processor may transmit a food model including the selected foodshape, the ingredient, and the color to the cooking apparatus to allowthe cooking apparatus to shape the food in accordance with the foodshape, the ingredient, and the color.

The processor may receive an input of a cooking method including aheating temperature and a heating time via the user interface.

The processor may transmit the cooking method to the cooking apparatusto allow the cooking apparatus to heat the food according to the heatingtemperature and the heating time of the food.

The processor may display a preview of the food representing anappearance of the food after heating.

The processor may modify a size of the food shape in response to thetouch input of the user.

The processor may repeat an arrangement of the food shape in response tothe touch input of the user.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a cookingapparatus is provided. The cooking apparatus includes a user interface,a food shaping device and a processor. The user interface may sense atouch input of a user and display an image in response to the touchinput. The food shaping device may discharge food ingredients. Theprocessor may sense a shape drawn on the user interface by the user andcontrol the food shaping device to discharge the food ingredients inaccordance with the drawn shape.

The processor may sense a touch point of the user on the user interfaceand display a moving path of the touch point in response to the touchinput of the user.

The processor may display at least one of a line, circle, or a polygonon the user interface in response to the touch input of the user.

The processor may receive an input of an ingredient and color of thefood for a closed region of the drawn shape.

The processor may display the input ingredient and color in the closedregion.

The processor may control the food shaping unit to discharge the foodingredients according to the drawn shape, the ingredient, and the color.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a cookingsystem includes a user equipment and a cooking apparatus. The userequipment may include a user interface configured to receive a touchinput of a user and display an image in response to the touch input, afirst transceiver configured to communicate with the cooking apparatus,and a first processor configured to sense a shape drawn on the userinterface by the user and transmit information of the drawn shape to thecooking apparatus via the first transceiver. The cooking apparatus mayinclude a second transceiver configured to communicate with the userequipment, a food shaping device configured to discharge foodingredients, a food heating device configured to heat a food shaped byusing the food ingredients, and a second processor configured to receiveinformation of the drawn shape via the second transceiver and controlthe food shaping device to discharge the food ingredients according tothe drawn shape.

The first processor may sense a touch point of the user on the userinterface and display a moving path of the touch point in response tothe touch point of the user.

The first processor may receive an input of an ingredient and color ofthe food for a closed region of the drawn shape.

The user equipment may further include a camera configured to acquire afood image, and the first processor may transmit the food image acquiredby the camera to the cooking apparatus via the first transceiver. Thecooking apparatus may also include a camera configured to acquire a foodimage (e.g., inside or outside of the cooking apparatus) and transmitthe food image acquired by the camera to the user equipment via thesecond transceiver,

According to the present disclose, a food to be cooked by the user maybe three-dimensionally shaped and cooked by applying the food shapingmodule to the cooking apparatus.

According to the present disclosure, provided are a user equipment and acooking apparatus capable of displaying the food shape in accordancewith the touch input of the user and shaping the food in accordance withthe displayed food shape.

According to the present disclosure, provided are a user equipment and acooking apparatus that allow the user to easily input the food shape.

According to the present disclosure, provided are a user equipment and acooking apparatus capable of displaying an appearance of a food shapedin accordance with a food shape input by the user after heating.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the disclosure will be more apparent from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a cooking system according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a cooking apparatus accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a food shaping module ofthe cooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating the cartridge assembly moving in thelongitudinal direction X in the cooking apparatus according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating the cartridge assembly moving in thelateral direction Y in the cooking apparatus according to an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating the cartridge assembly moving in thevertical direction Z in the cooking apparatus according to an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating rotation of the cartridge assembly in thecooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a view illustrating a tray moving in the vertical direction Zin the cooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a cartridge assembly according to thefirst embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the cartridge assemblyaccording to the first embodiment of the cooking apparatus of thepresent disclosure;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are views illustrating a process of pressing thecartridge assembly according to the first embodiment of the cookingapparatus of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 12A and 12B are views schematically illustrating a first method ofadjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from a cartridge ofthe cartridge assembly according to the second embodiment of the cookingapparatus of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 13A and 13B are views schematically illustrating a second methodof adjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from thecartridge of the cartridge assembly according to the second embodimentof the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are views schematically illustrating a third method ofadjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from the cartridgeof the cartridge assembly according to the second embodiment of thecooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 15A, 15B, and 15C are views schematically illustrating a fourthmethod of adjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from thecartridge of the cartridge assembly according to the second embodimentof the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 16A, 16B, 16C, and 16D are views schematically illustrating afifth method of adjusting the amount of the food ingredient extrudedfrom the cartridge of the cartridge assembly according to the secondembodiment of the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view illustrating a cartridge assemblyaccording to a third embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 18 is a perspective view illustrating a cartridge assemblyaccording to a fourth embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 19 is a perspective view illustrating a cartridge assemblyaccording to a fifth embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge of FIG. 19 takenalong line A-A′ according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 21A and 21B are views illustrating one process of pressing thecartridge of FIG. 19 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 22A and 22B are views illustrating another process of pressing thecartridge of the cartridge assembly according to the fifth embodiment ofthe cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIG. 23 is a view illustrating a cartridge of a cartridge assemblyaccording to a sixth embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 24 is a view illustrating a cartridge of a cartridge assemblyaccording to a seventh embodiment of the cooking apparatus of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 25 is a view illustrating a cartridge unit of a cartridge assemblyaccording to an eighth embodiment of the cooking apparatus of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 26 is a perspective view illustrating a container of the cartridgeunit of FIG. 25 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 27 is a cross-sectional view of an enlarged portion of thecontainer of FIG. 25 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 28 is a view illustrating a container cap of the cartridge unit ofFIG. 25 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 29A, 29B, and 29C are views illustrating a process of using thecartridge unit of the cartridge assembly according to the eighthembodiment of the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIG. 30 is a view illustrating a method of removing a container cap ofthe cartridge unit of a cartridge assembly according to a ninthembodiment of the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIG. 31 is a view illustrating a method of removing a cartridge cover ofa cartridge unit of a cartridge assembly according to a tenth embodimentof the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIG. 32 is a view illustrating a cartridge assembly according to aneleventh embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 33A and 33B are views for describing a method of replacing acartridge assembly of a cooking apparatus according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 34A, 34B, and 34C are views illustrating one process ofpartitioning an internal space of a main body into a plurality of spacesin a cooking apparatus according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 35A, 35B, and 35C are views illustrating another process ofpartitioning an internal space of a main body into a plurality of spacesin the cooking apparatus different from that illustrated in FIGS. 34A,34B, and 34C according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 36A, 36B, and 36C are views illustrating a process of individuallymoving a cartridge separated from a cartridge body in a cookingapparatus according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 37 is a block diagram illustrating a cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 38 is a block diagram of a user equipment according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 39 illustrates a cooking operation of a cooking apparatus accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 40 illustrates a method of acquiring a food model and a cookingmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 41 illustrates a main screen according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 42 illustrates a model creation screen to create a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 43 illustrates a cooking method setting screen to set a cookingmethod for a food according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 44 illustrates a method of notifying an insufficient foodingredient by automatic cooking according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 45 illustrates an insufficient ingredient notification screen tonotify a user of an insufficient food ingredient according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 46 illustrates a method of recommending a food by automatic cookingaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 47 illustrates a food recommendation screen to recommend a foodaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 48 illustrates an example of a method of creating a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 49, 50, 51, 52, and 53 illustrate examples of receiving a foodmodel according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 54 illustrates another example of a method of creating a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 55 and 56 illustrate examples of receiving a food model accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 57 illustrates another example of a method of creating a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 58 and 59 illustrate examples of receiving an input of a foodmodel according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 60 illustrates a method of creating a food model according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 61 illustrates an example of acquiring a food image according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 62 illustrates an example of displaying a food image according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 63 illustrates an example of a method of editing a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 64 and 65 illustrate examples of editing a food model according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 66 illustrates another example of the method of editing a foodmodel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 67, 68, 69, and 70 illustrate examples of editing a food modelaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 71 illustrates a method of generating a preview of food accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 72 illustrates an example of data to generate a preview of foodaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 73 illustrates an example of a preview of food according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 74 is a block diagram illustrating a cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 75, 76, and 77 illustrate examples of a shaping unit included inthe cooking apparatus according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 78 illustrates a method of shaping a food according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 79 and 80 illustrate examples of dividing a food model accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 81 is a block diagram illustrating a cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 82 illustrates an appearance of the cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 83 illustrates a method of shaping a food according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 84 and 85 illustrate examples of dividing a food model accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 86 is a block diagram illustrating a cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 87 illustrates an appearance of the cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 88 illustrates a method of shaping a food according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 89 illustrates an example of a method of cooking a food by acooking system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 90 illustrates an example of assigning a food model by the cookingsystem according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 91 illustrates another example of assigning the food model by thecooking system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 92 illustrates another example of the method of cooking a food bythe cooking system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 93 and 94 illustrate examples of a model dividing screen to dividea food model by the cooking system according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure; and

FIG. 95 illustrates an example of dividing a food model by the cookingsystem according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood torefer to like parts, components, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the various embodiments describedherein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functionsand constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

Additionally, embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. These embodimentsare provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete andwill fully convey the embodiments to those of ordinary skill in the art.Like numerals denote like elements throughout.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. maybe used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another. As used herein, the term “and/or,” includes anyand all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being“connected,” or “coupled,” to another element, it can be directlyconnected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may bepresent. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directlyconnected,” or “directly coupled,” to another element, there are nointervening elements present.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, thesingular forms “a,” “an,” and “the,” are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout.

FIG. 1 illustrates a cooking system according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, a cooking system 1 may include a cooking apparatus2 configured to shape and heat a food, a user equipment 3 (e.g., alaptop computer 3-1 and a smartphone 3-2) configured to acquireinformation on the food from a user, and an information relay device 4configured to relay communications between the cooking apparatus 2 anduser equipment 3.

The cooking apparatus 2 may shape the food by three-dimensional (3D)printing. The food that is a mixture of food ingredients and/orseasonings is in an uncooked or unheated state. After cooking or heatingthe food by the cooking apparatus 2, the user may eat the food.

The cooking apparatus 2 may receive an input of a 3D food shape andthree-dimensionally shape a food having by 3D printing. For example, thecooking apparatus 2 may shape the 3D shape of food by forming a foodingredient layer with an appropriate thickness by repeating a dischargeof proper amounts of food ingredients and stacking the food ingredientlayer.

The cooking apparatus 2 may receive the 3D food shape from the user invarious ways. For example, the cooking apparatus 2 may receiveinformation on the 3D food shape from the user equipment 3 viacommunication networks or may directly receive an input of the 3D shapeof food from the user via a user interface.

The cooking apparatus 2 may heat the food having a 3D shape in variousways. For example, the cooking apparatus 2 may directly heat the foodusing a heater or may heat air surrounding the food by convection. Also,the cooking apparatus 2 may heat the food using microwaves.

The cooking apparatus 2 may include an electric oven that heats foodusing an electric heater, a convection oven that heats food using hotair, a microwave oven that heats food using microwaves, a gas oven thatheats food by burning a gas fuel, and the like.

The user equipment 3 may receive an input of the 3D shape of food fromthe user and transmit information on the 3D shape of food to the cookingapparatus 2. For example, the user equipment 3 may receive an input ofthe 3D shape of food from the user via the user interface 3 and transmitinformation on the 3D shape of food to the cooking apparatus 2 via theinformation relay device 4.

In addition, the user equipment 3 may assign the cooking operation to aplurality of cooking apparatuses 2-1 and 2-2 in accordance withoperating states of the cooking apparatuses 2-1 and 2-2. For example,while a first cooking apparatus 2-1 is in operation, the user equipment3 may transmit the cooking operation to a second cooking apparatus 2-2.

The user equipment 3 may be implemented using a computer or portableterminal that may access a network. In this regard, examples of thecomputer may include a notebook computer, desktop, laptop, tablet PC,slate PC, and the like provided with a WEB Browser. In addition,examples of the portable terminal, as a wireless communication devicewith portability and mobility, may include a hand-held wirelesscommunication device such as a personal communication system (PCS),global system for mobile communications (GSM), personal digital cellular(PDC), personal handy-phone system (PHS), personal digital assistant(PDA), international mobile telecommunication (IMT)-2000, code divisionmultiple access (CDMA)-2000, w-code division multiple access (W-CDMA),wireless broadband Internet (WiBro) terminal, and smartphone and awearable device such as a watch, ring, bracelet, anklet, necklace,glasses, contact lenses, and head-mounted-device (HMD).

The information relay device 4 may relay information between the cookingapparatus 2 and the user equipment 3. For example, the information relaydevice 4 may receive information on the 3D shape of food from the userequipment 3 and transmit the information on the 3D shape of food to thecooking apparatus 2. Also, the information relay device 4 may receiveinformation on the operating state from the cooking apparatus 2 andtransmit the information on the operating state of the cooking apparatus2 to the user equipment 3.

The information relay device 4 may include a server device that simplyrelays signals between the cooking apparatus 2 and the user equipment 3or a network relay device that relays communications between the cookingapparatus 2 and the user equipment 3. For example, the information relaydevice 4 may include a server device for providing a service to clients,a repeater for amplifying a weakened signal, a Hub for sending out datareceived via one of a plurality of ports via another port, a bridge forconnecting different segments in a network, a switch for transmittingdata received via one of a plurality of ports to a target port, a routerfor connecting independent networks, and a gateway for connectingnetworks having different protocols.

Hereinafter, the cooking apparatus 2, the user equipment 3, and theinformation relay device 4 will be described in more detail.

FIGS. 2 to 8 illustrate views of a case to which a cartridge assembly200 according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a cooking apparatus accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, a cooking apparatus 1 a may include a main body 10.The main body 10 may define an appearance of the cooking apparatus 1 a.The main body 10 may have a top surface 11, a bottom surface (notshown), a rear surface (not shown), both side surfaces 12, and a frontsurface 13.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a cooking chamber 20disposed inside the main body 10. The cooking chamber 20 may be definedby a top surface (not shown), a bottom surface 21, a rear surface (notshown), both side surfaces 22, and an open font surface 23. Aninsulating member (not shown) may be disposed between the cookingchamber 20 and the main body 10 to insulate the cooking chamber 20.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a door 30. The door 30 maybe rotatably installed on the main body 10 to open or close the frontsurface 23 of the cooking chamber 20. The door 30 may define anappearance of the main body 10 and the cooking apparatus 1 a. The door30 may be provided with a handle 31 for the convenience of the user.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a control panel 40 tocontrol the operation of the cooking apparatus 1 a. The control panel 40may be installed at an upper portion of the font surface 23 of the mainbody 10, but the position of the control panel 40 may be modified invarious ways.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a food shaping module 100.The food shaping module 100 may be movably disposed inside the cookingchamber 20. The food shaping module 100 may include a cartridge assembly200 and a driving device 120 configured to drive the cartridge assembly200. The food shaping module 100 will be described in more detail later.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a guide rod 50 configuredto guide the food shaping module 100. The guide rod 50 may include fixedrods 51 fixedly installed at the both side surfaces 22 of the cookingchamber 20. The fixed rods 51 may be fixed to the both side surfaces 22of the cooking chamber 20 to extend in a longitudinal direction X of thecooking apparatus 1 a. The fixed rods 51 installed at the both sidesurfaces 22 of the cooking chamber 20 may be parallel to each other. Theguide rod 50 may further include moving rods 52 moving along the fixedrods 51. The moving rods 52 may extend in a lateral direction Y of thecooking apparatus 1 a. Both ends of the moving rods 52 may be coupled tothe fixed rods 51 respectively. In particularly, the both ends of themoving rods 52 may be coupled to the fixed rods 51 respectively bybinding members 53 such that the moving rods 52 move in the longitudinaldirection X of the cooking apparatus 1 a along the fixed rods 51. Thefood shaping module 100 may be movably coupled to the moving rods 52.Particularly, the food shaping module 100 may be coupled to the movingrods 52 to move in the lateral direction Y of the cooking apparatus 1 aalong the moving rods 52. The movement of the food shaping module 100will be described in more detail later.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a tray 60 disposed on thebottom surface 21 of the cooking chamber 20. The tray 60 may beinstalled on the bottom surface 21 of the cooking chamber 20 to berotated. The tray 60 may be installed on the bottom surface 21 of thecooking chamber 20 such that a height of the tray 60 is adjusted in thein a vertical direction Z of the cooking apparatus 1 a.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include at least one heater 70 toheat food. The at least one heater 70 may be installed in the cookingchamber 20. For example, the at least one heater 70 may be installed onthe bottom surface 21 of the cooking chamber 20 or the top surface (notshown) of the cooking chamber 20. However, the installation position ofthe heater 70 may be modified in various ways.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a machine room (not shown)in which various electric components used to drive the cooking apparatus1 a are installed. For example, the machine room may be disposed in aspace between the cooking chamber 20 and the main body 10. However, theposition of the machine room is not limited and may be modified invarious ways.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a fan (not shown)installed to circulate air heated by the at least one heater 70.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a food shaping module ofthe cooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, the food shaping module 100 may include a cartridgeassembly 200 and a driving device 120 configured to drive the cartridgeassembly 200.

The driving device 120 may include a vertical movement adjusting unit130 (e.g., a vertical movement adjusting device) that moves thecartridge assembly 200 in the vertical direction Z of the cookingapparatus 1 a.

The vertical movement adjusting unit 130 may include an actuator. Forexample, the vertical movement adjusting unit 130 may include anelectric actuator, pneumatic actuator, hydraulic actuator, or the like.Hereinafter, the pneumatic actuator will be described as an example ofthe vertical movement adjusting unit 130.

The vertical movement adjusting unit 130 may include a cylinder 131.Although the cylinder 131 may have a cylindrical shape, the shape of thecylinder 131 may be modified in various ways.

In addition, the vertical movement adjusting unit 130 may furtherinclude a piston rod 132 reciprocating by an air pressure. The pistonrod 132 may be accommodated in the cylinder 131 such that one end of thepiston rod 132 is fixed to a connection unit 150 (e.g., a connectiondevice). Particularly, one end of the piston rod 132 may be fixed to abottom plate 153 of the connection unit 150.

The vertical movement adjusting unit 130 may further include a housing133. The housing 133 may be disposed on the connection unit 150.Particularly, the housing 133 may be disposed on a top plate 151 of theconnection unit 150. The housing 133 may include a top cover 134 coupledto a top end of the cylinder 131 and a bottom cover 135 coupled to abottom end of the cylinder 131. In addition, the housing 133 may furtherinclude a plurality of connection rods 136 connecting the top cover 134with the bottom cover 135. The plurality of connection rods 136 may bedisposed outside the cylinder 131. In another aspect, the cylinder 131may be accommodated in a space defined by the top cover 134, the bottomcover 135, and the plurality of connection rods 136. One end of thepiston rod 132 may penetrate the bottom cover 135 and the top plate 151to be fixed to the bottom plate 153.

The type of the vertical movement adjusting unit 130 is not limited tothe actuator so long as the vertical movement adjusting unit 130 mayadjust the height of the cartridge assembly 200.

The driving device 120 may further include a rotation adjusting unit 140(e.g., a rotation adjusting device) that rotates the cartridge assembly200.

The rotation adjusting unit 140 may include a rotation shaft 141 coupledto the cartridge assembly 200. The rotation shaft 141 may be coupled toa cartridge body 210 to allow rotational movement of the cartridgeassembly 200.

The rotation adjusting unit 140 may further include a driving motor 142.The driving motor 142 is connected to the rotation shaft 141 to providea rotational force to the rotation shaft 141.

In addition, the rotation adjusting unit 140 may further include acasing 143 provided to accommodate the driving motor 142. The casing 143may be fixed to the connection unit 150. Particularly, the casing 143may be fixed to the bottom plate 153 of the connection unit 150.

The driving device 120 may further include the connection unit 150connecting the vertical movement adjusting unit 130 with the rotationadjusting unit 140. The connection unit 150 may be disposed between thevertical movement adjusting unit 130 and the rotation adjusting unit140.

The connection unit 150 may include a top plate 151 provided to supportthe vertical movement adjusting unit 130. The bottom cover 135 of thevertical movement adjusting unit 130 may be fixed to the top plate 151.The top plate 151 may have moving rod mounting holes 152 to which themoving rods 52 are coupled. The number and size of the moving rodmounting holes 152 may correspond to the number and size of the movingrods 52. Since the moving rods 52 are movably coupled to the moving rodmounting holes 152 of the connection unit 150, the food shaping module100 may move in the lateral direction Y of the cooking apparatus 1 aalong the moving rods 52.

In addition, the connection unit 150 may further include the bottomplate 153 coupled to the rotation adjusting unit 140. Particularly, thebottom plate 153 of the connection unit 150 may be coupled to a casing143 of the rotation adjusting unit 140. One end of the piston rod 132 ofthe vertical movement adjusting unit 130 may be fixed to the bottomplate 153 of the connection unit 150.

In addition, the connection unit 150 may further include a guide rod 154connecting the top plate 151 with the bottom plate 153. The guide rod154 may penetrate the top plate 151. In addition, one end of the guiderod 154 may be fixed to the bottom plate 153. The vertical movementadjusting unit 130 may be disposed inside the guide rod 154. The guiderod 154 may move integrally with the bottom plate 153. For example, whenthe piston rod 132 of the vertical movement adjusting unit 130 movesdownward in the cooking apparatus 1 a, a gap between the top plate 151and the bottom plate 153 of the connection unit 150 increasessimultaneously increasing a length of the guide rod 154 between the topplate 151 and the bottom plate 153 of the connection unit 150. A stopper(not shown) may be disposed at the guide rod 154. The stopper may limitthe movement of the guide rod 154 downward in the cooking apparatus 1 ato prevent detachment of the guide rod 154 from the top plate 151. Theconnection unit 150 may include a plurality of guide rods 154.

The driving device 120 may further include an extruding unit 160 (e.g.,an extruding device). The extruding unit 160 may press at least onecartridge 240. The extruding unit 160 may be installed inside thecooking chamber 20 such that a food ingredient contained in at least onecartridge 240 is discharged onto the tray 60 (FIG. 2) by pressing the atleast one cartridge 240.

The extruding unit 160 may include an actuator. For example, theextruding unit 160 may include an electric actuator, a pneumaticactuator, a hydraulic actuator, or the like. Hereinafter, the pneumaticactuator will be described as the extruding unit 160 by way of example.

The extruding unit 160 may include an extruding unit cylinder 161.Although the extruding unit cylinder 161 may have a cylindrical shape,the shape of the extruding unit cylinder 161 may be modified in variousways.

The extruding unit 160 may further include a piston 162 reciprocating byan air pressure. The piston 162 may include a pressing part 162 adisposed at one end of the piston 162 to press the at least onecartridge 240.

The extruding unit 160 may be accommodated in the casing 143.Particularly, the extruding unit 160 may be accommodated in the casing143 such that one end of the piston 162 is located outside the casing143, In other words, the extruding unit 160 may be accommodated in thecasing 143 such that the pressing part 162 a of the piston 162 islocated outside the casing 143. However, the extruding unit 160 may alsobe accommodated in a separate casing only for the extruding unit 160.

The driving device 120 may include a plurality of extruding units 160respectively corresponding to a plurality of cartridges 240.

The cartridge assembly 200 may include a plurality of cartridges 240 inwhich food ingredients are contained. The extruding unit 160 may beprovided to selectively press one of the plurality of cartridges 240.The cartridge assembly 200 will be described in more detail later. Thetype of the extruding unit 160 is not limited to the actuator so long asthe extruding unit 160 may press the plurality of cartridges 240.

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating the cartridge assembly moving in thelongitudinal direction X in the cooking apparatus according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, the cartridge assembly 200 may move in thelongitudinal direction X of the cooking apparatus 1 a.

The movement of the cartridge assembly 200 in the longitudinal directionX of the cooking apparatus 1 a may be implemented by movement of themoving rods 52 that move along the fixed rods 51. The moving rods 52 maymove in the longitudinal direction X of the cooking apparatus 1 a alongthe fixed rods 51. Thus, the food shaping module 100 coupled to themoving rods 52 may also move in the longitudinal direction X of thecooking apparatus 1 a along the fixed rods 51 integrally with the movingrods 52.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating the cartridge assembly moving in thelateral direction Y in the cooking apparatus according to an embodimentof the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5, the cartridge assembly 200 may move in the lateraldirection Y of the cooking apparatus 1 a.

The food shaping module 100 may be coupled to the moving rods 52 to movein the lateral direction Y of the cooking apparatus 1 a along the movingrods 52. Thus, the cartridge assembly 200 as a component of the foodshaping module 100 may also move in the lateral direction Y of thecooking apparatus 1 a.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating the cartridge assembly moving in thevertical direction Z in the cooking apparatus according to an embodimentof the present disclosure. Refer to FIG. 3 for the reference numeralsnot illustrated herein.

Referring to FIG. 6, the cartridge assembly 200 may move in the verticaldirection Z of the cooking apparatus 1 a.

The movement of the cartridge assembly 200 in the vertical direction Zof the cooking apparatus 1 a may be implemented by the operation of thevertical movement adjusting unit 130. Particularly, the movement of thecartridge assembly 200 moving in the vertical direction Z of the cookingapparatus 1 a is determined by the movement of the piston rod 132. Whenthe piston rod 132 of the vertical movement adjusting unit 130 movesdownward in the cooking apparatus 1 a, the cartridge assembly 200 alsomoves downward in the cooking apparatus 1 a. On the contrary, when thepiston rod 132 of the vertical movement adjusting unit 130 moves upwardin the cooking apparatus 1 a, the cartridge assembly 200 also moveupward in the cooking apparatus 1 a.

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating rotation of the cartridge assembly in thecooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, the cartridge assembly 200 may rotate about therotation shaft 141 of the rotation adjusting unit 140. The rotationshaft 141 may rotate upon receiving power from the driving motor 142 ofthe rotation adjusting unit 140. The cartridge assembly 200 may rotatein one direction or in both directions.

If the cartridge assembly 200 is designed as a rotatable device asdescribed above, the plurality of cartridges 240 may be pressed by usingone extruding unit 160. For example, under an assumption that theplurality of cartridges 240 contain different food ingredients, theextruding unit 160 may press one of the plurality of cartridges 240 bycontrolling the degree of rotation of the cartridge assembly 200.

However, the number of the extruding units 160 is not limited to one.For example, the driving device 120 may include a plurality of extrudingunits 160 corresponding to the number of the plurality of cartridges240.

FIG. 8 is a view illustrating a tray moving in the vertical direction Zin the cooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, the tray 60 may be installed on the bottom surface21 of the cooking chamber 20 to be movable in the vertical direction Zof the cooking apparatus 1 a. That is, the tray 60 may be installed onthe bottom surface 21 of the cooking chamber 20 such that the height ofthe tray 60 is adjustable.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a tray height adjustingunit 170 (e.g., a tray height adjusting device).

The tray height adjusting unit 170 may include an actuator. Examples ofthe tray height adjusting unit 170 may include an electric actuator, apneumatic actuator, and a hydraulic actuator. Hereinafter, the pneumaticactuator will be described as the tray height adjusting unit 170 by wayof example.

The tray height adjusting unit 170 may include a tray cylinder 171 and atray piston rod 172. The tray piston rod 172 may reciprocate in thevertical direction Z of the cooking apparatus 1 a by an air pressure.

The movement of the tray 60 in the vertical direction Z of the cookingapparatus 1 a may be implemented by the operation of the tray heightadjusting unit 170. Particularly, the movement of the tray 60 in thevertical direction Z of the cooking apparatus 1 a is determined by themovement of the tray piston rod 172. When the tray piston rod 172 movesupward in the cooking apparatus 1 a, the tray 60 also moves upward inthe cooking apparatus 1 a. On the contrary, when the tray piston rod 172moves downward in the cooking apparatus 1 a, the tray 60 also movesdownward in the cooking apparatus 1 a.

The tray height adjusting unit 170 may be disposed between the cookingchamber 20 and the main body 10. Particularly, the tray height adjustingunit 170 may be disposed between the bottom surface 21 of the cookingchamber 20 and the main body 10. However, the position of the trayheight adjusting unit 170 is not limited thereto and may be modified invarious ways.

The type of the tray height adjusting unit 170 is not limited to theactuator so long as it may adjust the height of the tray 60.

The tray 60 may be installed on the bottom surface 21 of the cookingchamber 20 so as to be rotatable.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6, the cartridgeassembly 200 may be installed in the cooking chamber 20 so as to belinearly movable. In addition, the cartridge assembly 200 may beinstalled in the cooking chamber 20 so as to be rotatable as illustratedin FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a cartridge assembly according to thefirst embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure.FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the cartridge assemblyaccording to the first embodiment of the cooking apparatus of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, the cartridge assembly 200 may include acartridge body 210. The cartridge body 210 may have a cylindrical shape.However, the shape of the cartridge body 210 is not limited thereto andmay be modified in various ways. A plurality of cartridge mounts 220 maybe formed on the cartridge body 210. When the cartridge body 210 has acylindrical shape, the plurality of cartridge mounts 220 may be formedon the side surface of the cartridge body 210 along a circumferentialdirection of the cartridge body 210. Grooves 221 may be formed on theside surface of the cartridge body 210 to define the plurality ofcartridge mounts 220. The cartridge body 210 may include a rotationshaft coupling part 211 to be coupled to the rotation shaft 141 of therotation adjusting unit 140.

The cartridge assembly 200 may further include a plurality of cartridgecases 230 mounted on the plurality of cartridge mounts 220. Theplurality of cartridge cases 230 may have a cylindrical shape with oneopen surface. For example, the plurality of cartridge cases 230 may havea cylindrical shape with an open top surface. The plurality of cartridgecases 230 may include protrusions 231 respectively corresponding to thegrooves 221 of the plurality of cartridge mounts 220. The protrusions231 may protrude from the side surfaces of the plurality of cartridgecases 230 to be coupled to the grooves 221 of the plurality of cartridgemounts 220. The plurality of cartridge cases 230 may further haveopenings 232. The openings 232 may be formed in the plurality ofcartridge cases 230 to face the bottom surface 21 of the cooking chamber20. For example, the openings 232 may be formed at the bottom surfacesof the plurality of cartridge cases 230. Nozzle parts 242 of theplurality of cartridges 240 may selectively protrude out of theplurality of cartridge cases 230 through the openings 232.

The plurality of cartridge cases 230 are not limited to the cylindricalshape and may have a shape corresponding to the plurality of cartridgemounts 220.

The cartridge assembly 200 may further include a plurality of cartridges240 disposed in the plurality of cartridge cases 230. Food ingredientsmay be contained in the plurality of cartridges 240. The foodingredients may be in a liquid phase or a solid phase. Also, the foodingredients may be in a powder form.

The plurality of cartridges 240 may include a transparent or opaquematerial.

The plurality of cartridges 240 may include at least one materialselected from plastic, paper, and coated fiber. For example, theplurality of cartridges 240 may be formed of a polyethylene (PE)material. As another example, the plurality of cartridges 240 may beformed of paper having a plastic-coated inner surface. As anotherexample, the plurality of cartridges 240 may be formed of a waterproofcoated fiber.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 240 may include a containing part241.

In addition, each of the plurality of cartridges 240 may further includea nozzle part 242 connected to the containing part 241 and having adischarge port 243 through which a food ingredient is discharged.

The containing part 241 may have wrinkles 244 found in at least oneportion thereof. Preferably, the wrinkles 244 may be formed in theentire containing part 241. Since the wrinkles 244 are formed in atleast one portion of the containing part 241 as described above, thefood ingredient may be easily discharged when the extruding unit 160presses each of the plurality of cartridges 240. That is, if thewrinkles 244 are formed in at least one portion of the containing part241, smooth discharge of the food ingredient may be expected. Thus,throwing out or replacement of the plurality of cartridges 240 even whenthe food ingredients remain in the plurality of cartridges 240 may beprevented.

The cartridge assembly 200 may further include elastic members 250. Theelastic member 250 may be accommodated inside each of the plurality ofcartridge cases 230. Particularly, the elastic member 250 may beaccommodated in each of the plurality of cartridge cases 230 so as to bedisposed between the cartridge 240 and the opening 232 in the verticaldirection Z of the cooking apparatus 1 a. The nozzle part 242 of each ofthe plurality of cartridges 240 may selectively protrude out of each ofthe plurality of cartridge cases 230 through the opening 232 by anelastic force of the elastic member 250. For example, the elastic member250 may include a spring.

The plurality of cartridges 240 may include different food ingredients.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are views illustrating a process of pressing thecartridge assembly according to the first embodiment of the cookingapparatus of the present disclosure. In FIGS. 11A and 11B, “F” indicatesfood ingredient.

Referring to FIGS. 11A and 11B, the plurality of cartridges 240 may bepressed by the extruding unit 160 in the vertical direction Z of thecooking apparatus 1 a.

When the piston 162 of the extruding unit 160 presses each of theplurality of cartridges 240, the elastic member 250 is compressed sothat the nozzle part 242 of the cartridge 240 protrudes out of each ofthe plurality of cartridge cases 230 through the opening 232. In thiscase, since the plurality of cartridges 240 is compressed by theextruding unit 160, the food ingredients contained in the plurality ofcartridges 240 are discharged onto the tray 60 through the dischargeports 243.

A discharge amount of the food ingredient may be adjusted by changing apressure applied to the cartridge 240 by the piston 162 of the extrudingunit 160 and a movement distance of the piston 162 of the extruding unit160. In addition, the discharge amount of the food ingredient may alsobe adjusted by a solenoid valve, a rotary valve, or the like.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are views schematically illustrating a first method ofadjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from a cartridge ofthe cartridge assembly according to the second embodiment of the cookingapparatus of the present disclosure. A cartridge assembly 300 accordingto a second embodiment has the same structure as that of the cartridgeassembly 200 according to the first embodiment except that the elasticmember 250 is not used herein. In the cartridge assembly 300 accordingto the second embodiment, the nozzle part 242 of each of a plurality ofcartridges 340 is maintained in a state of protruding out of thecartridge case 230 through the opening 232. In FIGS. 12A and 12B, “F”indicates food ingredients. Descriptions given above with reference toFIGS. 2 to 11B will not be repeated herein.

Referring to FIGS. 12A and 12B, the cooking apparatus 1 a may furtherinclude a discharge port opening/closing member 310 configured toselectively open or close the discharge ports 243 of the plurality ofcartridges 340.

The discharge port opening/closing member 310 may include a rotating bar311. The rotating bar 311 may be provided to be rotatable about a shaft312 to open or close the discharge port 243.

The discharge port opening/closing member 310 may further include anactuator 313. For example, the actuator 313 may include an electricactuator, a pneumatic actuator, and a hydraulic actuator or the like.The actuator 313 may include a cylinder 314 and a piston rodreciprocating in a state of being coupled to the cylinder 314 by an airpressure. The piston rod 315 of the actuator 313 interacts with one endof the rotating bar 311 farther from the discharge port 243 of thecartridge 340.

The discharge port opening/closing member 310 may further include aspring unit 316 (e.g., a spring device). The spring unit 316 may furtherinclude a support 317 and a spring 318 fixed to the support 317. Thespring 318 of the spring unit 316 interacts with the other end of therotating bar 311 closer to the discharge port 243 of the cartridge 340.

As illustrated in FIG. 12A, before the plurality of cartridges 340 ispressed by the extruding unit 160, the discharge port 243 of thecartridge 340 is maintained in a closed state by the rotating bar 311 ofthe discharge port opening/closing member 310.

As illustrated in FIG. 12B, when the plurality of cartridges 340 ispressed by the extruding unit 160, the discharge port 243 of thecartridge 340 is opened as the rotating bar 311 of the discharge portopening/closing member 310 rotates about the center of the shaft 312. Inthis case, the piston rod 315 of the actuator 313 protrudes from thecylinder 314 to push the one end of the rotating bar 311 in a directionopposite to the direction of pressing the cartridge 340, and the spring318 supports the other end of the rotating bar 311 in a compressedstate.

By using the discharge port opening/closing member 310 illustrated inFIGS. 12A and 12B, the amounts of the food ingredients discharged fromthe plurality of cartridges 340 may be easily adjusted.

FIGS. 13A and 13B are views schematically illustrating a second methodof adjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from thecartridge of the cartridge assembly according to the second embodimentof the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure. Since the cartridgeassembly 300 according to the second embodiment is described above withreference to FIGS. 12A and 12B, detailed descriptions thereof will notbe repeated herein. Also, descriptions given above with reference toFIGS. 2 to 11B will not be repeated.

Referring to FIGS. 13A and 13B, the cooking apparatus 1 a may furtherinclude a discharge port opening/closing member 410 configured toselectively open or close the discharge ports 243 of the plurality ofcartridges 340.

The discharge port opening/closing member 410 may include a moving bar411. The moving bar 411 may linearly move to open or close the dischargeport 243. In other words, the moving bar 411 may move in the horizontaldirection to open or close the discharge port 243. The moving bar 411may include a head 412 brought into direct contact with the dischargeport 243 and a body 413 connected to the head 412.

The discharge port opening/closing member 410 may further include adriving unit 414 (e.g., a driving device). The moving bar 411 may becoupled to the driving unit 414 to move in the horizontal direction.

The discharge port opening/closing member 410 may further include aspring 415. The spring 415 may be coupled to the moving bar 411.Particularly, the spring 415 may be coupled to the body 413 of themoving bar 411.

As illustrated in FIG. 13A, before the plurality of cartridges 340 ispressed by the extruding unit 160, the discharge port 243 of thecartridge 340 is maintained in a closed state by the moving bar 411 ofthe discharge port opening/closing member 410. Particularly, thedischarge port 243 of the cartridge 340 is maintained in a closed stateby the head 412 of the moving bar 411.

As illustrated in FIG. 13B, when the plurality of cartridges 340 ispressed by the extruding unit 160, the discharge port 243 of thecartridge 340 is opened as the moving bar 411 of the discharge portopening/closing member 410 moves toward the driving unit 414. In thiscase, the spring 415 is compressed.

That is, a force of moving the moving bar 411 toward the driving unit414 to be spaced apart from the discharge port 243 is applied to openingof the discharge port 243 of the cartridge 340. A force of moving themoving bar 411 toward the discharge port 243 is applied to closing ofthe discharge port 243 of the cartridge 340 such that the moving bar 411is brought into contact with the discharge port 243. Resilience of thespring 415 may act as a force applied to the closing of the dischargeport 243 of the cartridge 340.

FIGS. 14A and 14B are views schematically illustrating a third method ofadjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from the cartridgeof the cartridge assembly according to the second embodiment of thecooking apparatus of the present disclosure. Since the cartridgeassembly 300 according to the second embodiment is described above withreference to FIGS. 12A and 12B, detailed descriptions thereof will notbe repeated.

Referring to FIGS. 14A and 14B, the cooking apparatus 1 a may furtherinclude a discharge port opening/closing member configured toselectively open or close the discharge ports 243 of the plurality ofcartridges 340.

The discharge port opening/closing member may include a clamp 450. Theclamp 450 may be detachably coupled to the nozzle part 242 of thecartridge 340. The cartridge 340 may have a groove 460. Particularly,the groove 460 may be formed to be recessed along a circumference of thenozzle part 242 to having a smaller diameter than the discharge port243. The clamp 450 may be detachably coupled to the groove 460.

FIG. 14A illustrates that the discharge port 243 of the cartridge 340 isin an open state. In this case, since the clamp 450 is separated fromthe groove 460, a passage of the food ingredient is formed in each ofthe plurality of cartridges 340. Thus, the food ingredient may bedischarged out of each of the plurality of cartridges 340 through thedischarge port 243 of the cartridge 340.

FIG. 14B illustrates that the discharge port 243 of the cartridge 340 isin a closed state. In this case, since the clamp 450 is coupled to thegroove 460 and presses the nozzle part 242, the passage of the foodingredient in the cartridge 340 is blocked. Thus, the food ingredientcannot be discharged out of the cartridge 340 through the discharge port243 of the cartridge 340.

This will be described in another aspect.

The clamp 450 may have elasticity. The clamp 450 may be maintained in astate of being coupled to the nozzle part 242 of the cartridge 340regardless of the discharge of the food ingredient. That is, the clamp450 may be maintained in a state of being coupled to the groove 460regardless of the discharge of the food ingredient. Before the pluralityof cartridges 340 is pressed by the extruding unit 160, the dischargeport 243 of the cartridge 340 is maintained in a closed state by apressure of the clamp 450. However, when the cartridge 340 is pressed bythe extruding unit 160, the clamp 450 is loosened by movement of thefood ingredient contained in the cartridge 340. As a result, the passageof the food ingredient expands in the cartridge 340 to open thedischarge port 243.

FIGS. 15A to 15C are views schematically illustrating a fourth method ofadjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from the cartridgeof the cartridge assembly according to the second embodiment of thecooking apparatus of the present disclosure. Since the cartridgeassembly 300 according to the second embodiment is described above withreference to FIGS. 12A and 12B, descriptions thereof will not berepeated. Refer to FIGS. 12A and 12B for the reference numerals notillustrated herein.

Referring to FIGS. 15A to 15C, the plurality of cartridges 340 mayinclude nozzle parts 242 having discharge ports 243 with various sizes.A larger discharge port 243 may discharge a larger amount of the foodingredient, while a smaller discharge port 243 may discharge a smalleramount of the food ingredient.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 340 may include the containing part241 and the nozzle part 242 detachably coupled to the containing part241. The nozzle part 242 coupled to the containing part 241 may bedetermined in accordance with the amount of the food ingredient to beextruded from the cartridge 340. For example, if a larger amount of thefood ingredient is required to be extruded from the cartridge 340, anozzle part 242 having a larger discharge port 243 may be selected andcoupled to the containing part 241 as illustrated in FIG. 15C. If asmaller amount of the food ingredient is required to be extruded fromthe cartridge 340, a nozzle part 242 having a smaller discharge port 243may be selected and coupled to the containing part 241 as illustrated inFIG. 15A. If a medium amount of the food ingredient is required to beextruded from the cartridge 340, a nozzle part 242 having a mediumdischarge port 243 may be selected and coupled to the containing part241 as illustrated in FIG. 15B.

The nozzle part 242 may further have cutout lines 242 a radiallyextending from the discharge port 243. In this case, the nozzle part 242may be formed of an elastic material. The cutout lines 242 a mayfacilitate shape modification of the nozzle part 242 according topressure of the extruding unit 160 applied to the cartridge 340. Forexample, when the plurality of cartridges 340 is pressed by theextruding unit 160, the nozzle part 242 is easily elastically deformedby the cutout lines 242 a and the amount of the food ingredientdischarged through the discharge port 243 may increase. On the contrary,when the plurality of cartridge 340 is not pressed by the extruding unit160, the nozzle part 242 returns to the original shape thereof byresilience and the amount of the food ingredients discharged through thedischarge port 243 may decrease. Or, the discharge of the foodingredient through the discharge port 243 may be prevented.

Preferably, the nozzle part 242 illustrated in FIG. 15 may be applied toa case in which the food ingredients are in a powder form. If the foodingredients are in a liquid phase, the nozzle part 242 may have aneedle-like shape.

FIGS. 16A to 16D are views schematically illustrating a fifth method ofadjusting the amount of the food ingredient extruded from the cartridgeof the cartridge assembly according to the second embodiment of thecooking apparatus of the present disclosure. Since the cartridgeassembly 300 according to the second embodiment is described above withreference to FIGS. 12A and 12B, descriptions thereof will not berepeated. Refer to FIGS. 12A and 12B for the reference numerals notillustrated herein.

Referring to FIGS. 16A to 16D, the plurality of cartridges 340 mayinclude nozzle parts 242 having discharge ports 243 with various sizes.A larger discharge port 243 may discharge a larger amount of the foodingredient, while a smaller discharge port 243 may discharge a smalleramount of the food ingredient.

The plurality of cartridges 340 may include the containing part 241 andthe nozzle part 242 detachably coupled to the containing part 241. Thenozzle part 242 coupled to the containing part 241 may be determined inaccordance with the amount of the food ingredient to be extruded fromthe cartridge 340. Since the relationship between the amount of the foodingredient to be extruded from the cartridge 340 and the nozzle part 242is the same as that described above with reference to FIG. 15, detaileddescriptions thereof will not be repeated herein.

Not only the amount of the food ingredient to be extruded from thecartridge 340 but also the property of food ingredient to be extrudedfrom the cartridge 340 may affect the size of the discharge port 243.Under an assumption that the amounts of the food ingredients to beextruded from the plurality of cartridges 340 are the same, since it ismore difficult for a food ingredient with a higher viscosity to pass thedischarge port 243, a larger discharge port 243 as illustrated in FIG.16C is suitable therefor. On the contrary, since a food ingredienthaving a lower viscosity easily passes through the discharge port 243, asmaller discharge port 243 as illustrated in FIG. 16A is suitabletherefor. A discharge port 243 with a medium size as illustrated in FIG.16B is suitable for a food ingredient having a medium viscosity.

In addition, the plurality of cartridges 340 may have nozzle parts 242with various shapes of the discharge ports 243. The nozzle parts 242 mayhave circular discharge ports 243 as illustrated in FIGS. 16A to 16C.The nozzle part 242 may have a discharge port 243 with a clover shape asillustrated in FIG. 16D. The clover shape illustrated in FIG. 16D mayrealize straightness of the food ingredient discharged through thedischarge port 243 by using surface tension. However, the shape of thedischarge port 243 is not limited thereto and may be modified in variousways.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view illustrating a cartridge assemblyaccording to a third embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the presentdisclosure. Hereinafter, descriptions given above with reference to thecartridge assembly 200 according to the first embodiment illustrated inFIG. 9 will not be repeated. Refer to FIGS. 9 and 10 for the referencenumerals not illustrated herein.

Referring to FIG. 17, a cartridge assembly 500 may include a cartridgebody 210. The cartridge body 210 may have a cylindrical shape. However,the shape of the cartridge body 210 is not limited thereto. Since theplurality of cartridge mounts 220 are described above with reference toFIG. 9, detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated.

The cartridge assembly 500 may further include the plurality ofcartridge cases 230 mounted on the plurality of cartridge mounts 220.The plurality of cartridge cases 230 may have a rectangular pillar shapewith one open surface. For example, the plurality of cartridge cases 230may have a rectangular pillar shape with an open top surface. Theplurality of cartridge cases 230 may include protrusions 231respectively corresponding to the grooves 221 of the plurality ofcartridge mounts 220. The protrusions 231 may protrude from the sidesurfaces of the plurality of cartridge cases 230 to be coupled to thegrooves 221 of the plurality of cartridge mounts 220. The plurality ofcartridge cases 230 may further have openings 232. The descriptions ofthe openings 232 are as described above with reference to FIG. 8 andwill not be repeated herein.

The cartridge assembly 500 may further include a plurality of cartridges240 disposed in the plurality of cartridge cases 230. The plurality ofcartridges 240 may have a shape corresponding to the plurality ofcartridge cases 230.

The cartridge assembly 500 may further include elastic members 250. Thedescriptions of the elastic members 250 are as described above withreference to FIG. 9 and will not be repeated herein.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view illustrating a cartridge assemblyaccording to a fourth embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the presentdisclosure. Hereinafter, descriptions given above with reference to thecartridge assembly 200 according to the first embodiment illustrated inFIG. 9 will not be repeated. Refer to FIGS. 9 and 10 for the referencenumerals not illustrated herein.

Referring to FIG. 18, a cartridge assembly 600 may include a cartridgebody 210. The cartridge body 210 may have a cylindrical shape. However,the shape of the cartridge body 210 is not limited thereto. A pluralityof cartridge mounts 220 may be formed on the cartridge body 210. Theplurality of cartridge mounts 220 may be formed to penetrate thecartridge body 210. The cartridge body 210 may include a rotation shaftcoupling part 211 to be coupled to the rotation shaft 141 of therotation adjusting unit 140. For example, the plurality of cartridgemounts 220 may be disposed at outer portions than the rotation shaftcoupling part 211 to be spaced apart from each other along thecircumferential direction of the cartridge body 210.

The cartridge assembly 600 may further include a plurality of cartridgecases 230 mounted on the plurality of cartridge mounts 220. Since theplurality of cartridge cases 230 is described above with reference toFIG. 8, detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated herein.

The cartridge assembly 600 may further include a plurality of cartridges240 located inside the plurality of cartridge cases 230. Since theplurality of cartridges 240 is described above with reference to FIG. 9,detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated.

The cartridge assembly 600 may further include elastic members 250.Since the elastic members 250 are described above with reference to FIG.8, descriptions thereof will not be repeated herein.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view illustrating a cartridge assemblyaccording to a fifth embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge of FIG.19 taken along line A-A′ according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIGS. 19 and 20, the cartridge assembly according to thefifth embodiment may include a plurality of cartridges 540 in which foodingredients are contained.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 540 may have a main body portion541. The main body portion 541 may include a main body front surface 542constituting a front surface of the cartridge 540 and a main body rearsurface 543 constituting a rear surface of the cartridge 540. Inaddition, the main body portion 541 may further include main body sidesurfaces 544 constituting side surfaces of the cartridge 540. The mainbody side surfaces 544 may connect the main body front surface 542 withthe main body rear surface 543.

The main body portion 541 may further include press parts 545, 546, and547. The press parts 545, 546, and 547 may include an upper end presspart 545 formed by pressing an upper end of the main body front surface542, an upper end of the main body rear surface 543, and upper ends ofthe main body side surfaces 544. Also, the press parts 545, 546, and 547may further include a lower end press part 546 formed by pressing alower end of the main body front surface 542, a lower end of the mainbody rear surface 543, and lower ends of the main body side surfaces544. The press parts 545, 546, and 547 may further include a side endpress part 547 formed by pressing one side edge of one of the main bodyfront surface 542 and the main body rear surface 543 and one side edgeof the main body side surfaces 544. The side end press part 547 mayinclude a first side end press part 547 a formed by pressing one sideedge of the main body front surface 542 and one side edge of the mainbody side surfaces 544 are pressed and a second side end press part 547b formed as one side edge of the main body rear surface 543 and one sideedge of the main body side surfaces 544.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 540 may further include a nozzlepart 548 having a discharge port 548 a. The nozzle part 548 may becoupled to the main body portion 541 such that a food ingredientcontained in the main body portion 541 is discharged through thedischarge port 548 a. For example, the nozzle part 548 may be partiallyinserted into the lower end press part 546 to be coupled to the mainbody portion 541.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 540 may further have an installationhole 549. The installation hole 549 may be formed at the upper end presspart 545 such that the cartridge 540 is mounted in the cartridge body ofthe cartridge assembly according to the fifth embodiment.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 540 may have fold lines 550. Thefold lines may be formed in the main body side surfaces 544 of the mainbody portion 541. Particularly, the fold line 550 may be formed long inthe main body side surfaces 544 of the main body portion 541 in thelongitudinal direction of the cartridge 540. The main body side surfaces544 may have a recessed shape. In this case, the fold line 550 is thedeepest portion.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 540 may further include an adhesivemember 551. The adhesive member 551 may be disposed in the main bodyportion 541 to efficiently remove an empty space in the main bodyportion 541 formed as the food ingredient is discharged during a processof pressing the cartridge 540 by using the extruding unit 160.Particularly, the adhesive member 551 may be disposed on the main bodyside surfaces 544. More particularly, the adhesive member 551 may bedisposed on at least one of the first side end press part 547 a and thesecond side end press part 547 b.

An aluminum foil may also be used to efficiently remove the empty spacein the main body portion 541 formed as the food ingredient is dischargedduring a process of pressing the cartridge 540 by using the extrudingunit 160. This is because the aluminum foil has rigidity. The aluminumfoil may be disposed on at least one of the first side end press part547 a and the second side end press part 547 b. A thickness of thealuminum foil may be in the range of 0.05 mm to 0.2 mm but is notlimited thereto.

Both of the adhesive member 551 and the aluminum foil may also bedisposed on at least one of the first side end press part 547 a and thesecond side end press part 547 b.

FIGS. 21A and 21B are views illustrating one process of pressing thecartridge of FIG. 19 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. FIGS. 21A and 21B are side vies of the cartridge 540 of FIG.19. In FIGS. 21A and 21B, “F” indicates food ingredient.

Referring to FIGS. 21A and 21B, the cartridge 540 of the cartridgeassembly according to the fifth embodiment may be pressed by theextruding unit. The extruding unit may include a plurality of rollers610. The cartridge 540 may be pressed by the plurality of rollers 610 ina state of being interposed between the rollers 610. The rollers 610 mayrotate about respective roller rotation shafts 611 thereof.

FIG. 21A illustrates a state before the cartridge 540 is pressed by theextruding unit. As illustrated in FIG. 21A, the cartridge 540 may bedisposed between the plurality of rollers 610. Particularly, thecartridge 540 may be disposed such that the upper end press part 545 ofthe main body portion 541 is interposed between the rollers 610.

FIG. 21B illustrates a state in which the cartridge 540 is pressed bythe extruding unit. As illustrated in FIG. 21B, the cartridge 540 may bepressed as the rollers 610 rotate about the respective roller rotationshafts 611. In this case, the plurality of rollers 610 may rotate inopposite directions. As the cartridge 540 is pressed by the rollers 610,the food ingredient contained in the cartridge 540 may be dischargedthrough the discharge port 548 a of the nozzle part 548. Portions of thecartridge 540 pressed by the rollers 610 may adhere to each other by theadhesive member 551 disposed on at least one of the first side end presspart 547 a and the second side end press part 547 b. As the portions ofthe cartridge 540 pressed by the rollers 610 adhere to each other, thefood ingredient is collected in a non-pressed portion of the cartridge540 that is not pressed by the rollers 610. Accordingly, a pressure ofthe rollers 610 may be concentrated on the food ingredient collected inthe non-pressed portion of the cartridge 540. Thus, a waste of the foodingredient contained in the cartridge 540 may be prevented.

The discharge amount of the food ingredient may be adjusted by changingrevolution per minute (RPM) of the plurality of rollers 610.

FIGS. 22A and 22B are views illustrating another process of pressing thecartridge of the cartridge assembly according to the fifth embodiment ofthe cooking apparatus of the present disclosure. In FIGS. 22A and 22B,“F” indicates food ingredient.

Referring to FIGS. 22A and 22B, the plurality of cartridges 540 of thecartridge assembly according to the fifth embodiment may be pressed bythe extruding unit 160. The extruding unit 160 may include one roller610. The roller 610 may rotate about a roller rotation shaft 611.

FIG. 22A illustrates a state before the cartridge 540 is pressed by theextruding unit 160. FIG. 22B illustrates a state in which the cartridge540 is pressed by the extruding unit 160. As illustrated in FIG. 22B,the cartridge 540 may be pressed as the single roller 610 rotates aboutthe roller rotation shaft 611. As the cartridge 540 is pressed by theroller 610, the food ingredient contained in the cartridge 540 may bedischarged through the discharge port 548 a of the nozzle part 548.Portions of the cartridge 540 pressed by the roller 610 may adhere toeach other by the adhesive member 551 disposed on at least one of thefirst side end press part 547 a and the second side end press part 547b. Effects of adhesion of the portions of the cartridge 540 pressed bythe roller 610 are the same as those described above with reference toFIGS. 21A and 21B, and thus detailed descriptions thereof will not berepeated.

FIG. 23 is a view illustrating a cartridge of a cartridge assemblyaccording to a sixth embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the presentdisclosure. In FIG. 23, “F” indicates food ingredient.

As illustrated in FIG. 23, the cartridge assembly according to the sixthembodiment may include a plurality of cartridges 640. The plurality ofcartridges 640 may be formed of a hard material. For example, while theplurality of cartridges 240 of the cartridge assembly 200 according tothe first embodiment is formed of a soft material, the plurality ofcartridges 640 of the cartridge assembly according to the sixthembodiment is formed of a hard material that is not deformed by theextruding unit 160.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 640 may include a containing part641 and a nozzle part 642 connected to the containing part 641 andhaving a discharge port 642 a through which a food ingredient isdischarged. The containing part 641 is formed of a hard material that isnot deformed by the extruding unit 160.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 640 may further include a cap 643disposed inside the containing part 641 to be movable in the pressingdirection of the extruding unit 160.

As the extruding unit 160 presses the cap 643, the cap 643 moves towardthe discharge port 642 a in the pressing direction of the extruding unit160. During this process, the food ingredient contained in the cartridge640 is extruded through the discharge port 642 a.

FIG. 24 is a view illustrating a cartridge of a cartridge assemblyaccording to a seventh embodiment of the cooking apparatus of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 24, the cartridge assembly according to the seventhembodiment may include a plurality of cartridges 740. The plurality ofcartridges 740 may be formed of a soft material. That is, the pluralityof cartridges 740 may include a soft material deformable by theextruding unit 160.

Each of the plurality of cartridges 740 may include a containing part741 and a nozzle part 742 connected to the containing part 741 andhaving a discharge port 742 a through which a food ingredient isdischarged. The containing part 741 is formed of a soft materialdeformable by the extruding unit 160.

The containing part 741 may have wrinkles 743 in at least one portionthereof. Since the wrinkles 743 are formed in at least one portion ofthe containing part 741, the food ingredient may be easily dischargedwhen the extruding unit 160 presses the cartridge 740. That is, if thewrinkles 743 are formed in at least one portion of the containing part741, smooth discharge of the food ingredient may be expected. Thus,throwing out or replacement of the plurality of cartridges 740 even whenthe food ingredients remain in the plurality of cartridges 240 may beprevented.

FIG. 25 is a view illustrating a cartridge unit of a cartridge assemblyaccording to an eighth embodiment of the cooking apparatus of thepresent disclosure. FIG. 26 is a perspective view illustrating acontainer of the cartridge unit of FIG. 25 according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. FIG. 27 is a cross-sectional view of an enlargedportion of the container of FIG. 25 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. FIG. 28 is a view illustrating a container cap ofthe cartridge unit of FIG. 25 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIGS. 25 to 28, the cartridge assembly according to theeighth embodiment may include a cartridge unit 800 (e.g., a cartridgedevice) of the present disclosure.

The cartridge unit 800 may include a container 810 in which a foodingredient is contained. The container 810 may have an inlet 811. Thefood ingredient contained in the container 810 is discharged out of thecontainer 810 through the inlet 811. First threads 812 may be formed onthe internal surface of the inlet 811.

The container 810 may include a plastic material. Preferably, thecontainer 810 may have a thickness of 500 μm or less.

Wrinkles 810 a may be formed in at least one portion of the container810. Preferably, the wrinkles 810 a may be formed in the entire surfaceof the container 810. Effects of the wrinkles 810 a formed in at leastone portion of the container 810 are the same as those described abovewith reference to the wrinkles 244, and thus detailed descriptionsthereof will not be repeated.

The cartridge unit 800 may further include a cartridge cover 820 adheredto the inlet 811 to seal the container 810. The cartridge cover 820 maybe removably attached to the inlet 811.

The cartridge cover 820 may have a thin film form.

The cartridge cover 820 may include at least one material of polymer andmetal. For example, the cartridge cover 820 may include aluminum foil.

The cartridge cover 820 may have a structure that tears when apredetermined level of force is applied thereto. This structure may berealized by a reference tear line 821 as illustrated in FIG. 25. Thereference tear line 821 may be formed on the cartridge cover 820. Thereference tear line 821 may be formed along a circumferential directionof the inlet 811.

The cartridge unit 800 may further include a container cap 830. Thecontainer cap 830 may be coupled to the container 810. Particularly, thecontainer cap 830 may be separably (or detachably) coupled to the inlet811 of the container 810.

The container cap 830 may include at least one material of plastic andmetal.

The container cap 830 may include a nozzle part 840 having a dischargeport 841.

The container cap 830 may further include a connection part 850connected to the nozzle part 840. The connection part 850 may include anozzle introduction part 851 corresponding to the inlet 811 of thecontainer 810. After passing through the inlet 811 of the container 810,the food ingredient contained in the container 810 may be discharged outof the cartridge unit 800 through the nozzle introduction part 851 andthe discharge port 841. Second threads 852 that are engaged with thefirst threads 812 of the inlet 811 may be formed on the external surfaceof the nozzle introduction part 851. When the container cap 830 ispressed after removing a strap 860, the inlet 811 of the container 810may be coupled to the nozzle introduction part 851 of the container cap830. In this case, the first threads 812 and the second threads 852 maybe engaged with each other. Tight coupling of the first threads 812 andthe second threads 852 may prevent leakage of the food ingredientcontained in the container 810 during a process in which the foodingredient is transferred to the container cap 830 and discharged out ofthe cartridge unit 800 through the discharge port 841.

The cartridge unit 800 may further include the strap 860. The strap 860may be provided to connect the container 810 with the container cap 830.The strap 860 may be removably disposed between the container 810 andthe container cap 830.

The strap 860 may include a bending part 861 configured to connect thecontainer 810 with the container cap 830 and a grip part 862 extendingfrom the bending part 861. The user may easily remove the strap 860 byusing the grip part 862.

FIGS. 29A to 29C are views illustrating a process of using the cartridgeunit of the cartridge assembly according to the eighth embodiment of thecooking apparatus of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 29A, the cartridge unit 800 is in a state where thecontainer 810 is connected with the container cap 830 by the strap 860.In this case, the inlet 811 of the container 810 and the nozzleintroduction part 851 of the container cap 830 are spaced apart fromeach other.

Referring to FIGS. 29B and 29C, by pressing the container cap 830 afterremoving the strap 860, the container cap 830 is coupled to thecontainer 810. Particularly, the nozzle introduction part 851 of thecontainer cap 830 is coupled to the inlet 811 of the container 810. Inthis case, the cartridge cover 820 attached to the inlet 811 of thecontainer 810 may be torn when the nozzle introduction part 851 of thecontainer cap 830 presses the inlet 811 of the container 810. As thecartridge cover 820 tears, the container 810 and the container cap 830communicate with each other. Thus, the food ingredient contained in thecontainer 810 is transferred to the container cap 830 and discharged outof the cartridge unit 800 through the discharge port 841 of the nozzlepart 840.

FIG. 30 is a view illustrating a method of removing a container cap ofthe cartridge unit of a cartridge assembly according to a ninthembodiment of the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 30, a cartridge assembly according to the ninthembodiment may include a cartridge unit 900 (e.g., a cartridge device)of the present disclosure.

The cartridge unit 900 may include a container 910 to contain a foodingredient.

The cartridge unit 900 may further include a container cap 920integrally formed with the container 910. The container cap 920 may beintegrally formed with the container 910 to be removable from thecontainer 910.

The cartridge unit 900 may have a cutting groove 930. The cutting groove930 may be formed at a boundary between the container 910 and thecontainer cap 920. In other words, the container 910 and the containercap 920 may be defined based on the cutting groove 930. The containercap 920 may be separated from the container 910 along the cutting groove930. Particularly, when the user bends the container cap 920, thecontainer cap 920 is separated from the container 910 along the cuttinggroove 930 and thus the container 910 is opened.

A nozzle (not shown) having a discharge port may be coupled to thecontainer 910 from which the container cap 920 is removed.

FIG. 31 is a view illustrating a method of removing a cartridge cover ofa cartridge unit of a cartridge assembly according to a tenth embodimentof the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 31, a cartridge assembly according to the tenthembodiment of the present disclosure may include a cartridge unit 950(e.g., a cartridge device).

The cartridge unit 950 may include a container 951 to contain a foodingredient. The container 951 may have an inlet 952. The food ingredientcontained in the container 951 is discharged out of the container 951through the inlet 952.

The cartridge unit 950 may further include a cartridge cover 953attached to the inlet 952 to seal the container 951. The cartridge cover953 may be removably attached to the inlet 952.

The cartridge cover 953 may have a thin film form.

The cartridge cover 953 may include at least one material of polymer andmetal. For example, the cartridge cover 953 may include aluminum foil.

The cartridge unit 950 may further include a container cap 954. Thecontainer cap 954 may be coupled to the container 951. Particularly, thecontainer cap 954 may be separably coupled to the inlet 952 of thecontainer 951.

The cartridge unit 950 may further include a cartridge cover opener 955configured to remove the cartridge cover 953. The cartridge cover opener955 may have a sharp shape. The cartridge cover opener 955 may beprovided at the container cap 954. Particularly, the cartridge coveropener 955 may be integrally formed with the container cap 954 outsidethe container cap 954.

After separating the container cap 954 from the container 951, the usermay remove the cartridge cover 953 by using the cartridge cover opener955 provided at the container cap 954. Particularly, the user may openthe container 951 by scratching the cartridge cover 953 by using thecartridge cover opener 955.

A nozzle (not shown) having a discharge port may be coupled to thecontainer 951 from which the cartridge cover 953 is removed.

FIG. 32 is a view illustrating a cartridge assembly according to aneleventh embodiment of the cooking apparatus of the present disclosure.Refer to FIGS. 2, 9, and 10 for the reference numerals not illustratedherein.

Referring to FIG. 32, a cartridge assembly 960 according to the eleventhembodiment may include a cartridge body 210. The cartridge body 210 mayhave a box shape. However, the shape of the cartridge body 210 is notlimited thereto and may be modified in various ways. A plurality ofcartridge mounts 220 may be formed on the cartridge body 210. Theplurality of cartridge mounts 220 may be formed to penetrate thecartridge body 210.

The cartridge assembly 960 according to the eleventh embodiment may bedisposed inside the cooking chamber 20 so as to perform linear movementand rotational movement. Methods for the linear movement and rotationalmovement of the cartridge assembly 960 according to the eleventhembodiment are the same as those of the cartridge assembly 200 accordingto the first embodiment, and thus detailed descriptions thereof will notbe repeated.

The cartridge assembly 960 may further include a plurality of cartridgecases 230 mounted in the plurality of cartridge mounts 220. Theplurality of cartridge cases 230 may have a cylindrical shape with oneopen surface. The plurality of cartridge cases 230 may further includean opening 232. The opening 232 may be formed in the cartridge case 230to face the bottom surface 21 of the cooking chamber 20. The nozzleparts 242 of the plurality of cartridges 240 may selectively protrudeout of the plurality of cartridge cases 230 via the openings 232.

The shape of the cartridge case 230 is not limited to the cylindricalshape and the plurality of cartridge cases 230 may have a shapecorresponding to that of the plurality of cartridge mounts 220.

The cartridge assembly 960 may further include a plurality of cartridges240 repeatedly disposed inside the plurality of cartridge cases 230. Theplurality of cartridges 240 may contain food ingredients. Since theplurality of cartridges 240 and the food ingredients are described abovewith reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, detailed descriptions thereof will notbe repeated.

The cartridge assembly 960 may further include elastic members 250.Since the elastic members 250 are described above with reference toFIGS. 9 and 10, detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated.

FIGS. 33A and 33B are views for describing a method of replacing acartridge assembly of a cooking apparatus according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. For descriptive convenience, amethod of replacing the cartridge assembly 200 according to the firstembodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 33A and 33B by wayof example. Refer to FIG. 2 for the reference numerals not illustratedherein. In addition, descriptions given above with reference to FIG. 2will not be repeated.

Referring to FIGS. 33A and 33B, the cartridge assembly 200 may bedisposed inside the cooking chamber 20 to be replaceable.

The main body 10 may have an opening part 14 formed on one surface ofthe main body 10 for replacement of the cartridge assembly 200.Particularly, the opening part 14 may be formed on the top surface 11 orone of side surfaces 12 of the main body 10. FIG. 32A illustrates a casein which the opening part 14 is formed on the top surface 11 of the mainbody 10. FIG. 32B illustrates a case in which the opening part 14 isformed on one side surface 12 of the main body 10.

The cooking apparatus 1 a may further include a simple door 15configured to open or close the opening part 14. The simple door 15 maybe installed on the main body 10. For example, the simple door 15 may berotatably installed on the main body 10 to open or close the openingpart 14. As another example, the simple door 15 may be slidablyinstalled on the main body 10 to open or close the opening part 14. Asanother example, the simple door 15 may be separably installed on themain body 10 to open or close the opening part 14. FIG. 33A illustratesthat the simple door 15 is installed on the top surface 11 of the mainbody 10 to open or close the opening part 14. FIG. 33B illustrates thatthe simple door 15 is installed on one side surface 12 of the main body10 to open or close the opening part 14.

FIGS. 34A to 34C are views illustrating one process of partitioning aninternal space of a main body into a plurality of spaces in a cookingapparatus according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.Hereinafter, descriptions given above with reference to FIGS. 2 to 10will be omitted. Refer to FIGS. 2 to 10 for the reference numerals notillustrated herein.

Referring to FIGS. 34A to 34C, a cooking apparatus 1 b may include amain body 10. The main body 10 may define an appearance of the cookingapparatus 1 b. The main body 10 may have a top surface 11, a bottomsurface (not shown), a rear surface (not shown), both side surfaces 12,and a front surface 13.

The cooking apparatus 1 b may further have an internal space 25 formedinside the main body 10. The internal space 25 may be defined by a topsurface (not shown), a bottom surface 21, a rear surface (not shown),both side surfaces 22, and an open font surface 23. An insulating member(not shown) may be disposed between the internal space 25 and the mainbody 10 to insulate the internal space 25.

The internal space 25 may have a first space 25 a and a second space 25b.

The cooking apparatus 1 b may further include a partitioning frame 970disposed in the internal space 25 to separate the first space 25 a fromthe second space 25 b. The partitioning frame 970 may be separablydisposed in the internal space 25.

The partitioning frame 970 may block heat transfer between the firstspace 25 a and the second space 25 b simultaneously partitioning theinternal space 25 into the first space 25 a and the second space 25 b.

The inside of the partitioning frame 970 may be maintained in a vacuumstate.

An insulating material may be accommodated in the partitioning frame970.

The cooking apparatus 1 b may further include a door 30. The door 30 maybe rotatably installed on the main body 10 to open or close the fontsurface 23 of the internal space 25. The door 30 is the same as thatdescribed above with reference to FIG. 2, and thus detailed descriptionsthereof will not be repeated.

The cooking apparatus 1 b may further include a control panel 40 tocontrol the operation of the cooking apparatus 1 b. Since the controlpanel 40 is described above with reference to FIG. 2, descriptionsthereof will not be repeated.

The cooking apparatus 1 b may further include a food shaping module 100.The food shaping module 100 may be movably disposed in the internalspace 25. The food shaping module 100 may include a cartridge assembly200 and a driving device 120 configured to drive the cartridge assembly200. Since the food shaping module 100 is described above with referenceto FIGS. 2 to 10, descriptions thereof will not be repeated.

The cooking apparatus 1 b may further include a guide rod 50 configuredto guide the food shaping module 100. The guide rod 50 may include fixedrods 51 fixedly installed at the both side surfaces 22 of the internalspace 25. The guide rod 50 may further include moving rods 52 movingalong the fixed rods 51. Since the guide rod 50 is described above withreference to FIG. 2, detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated.

The cooking apparatus 1 b may further include a tray 60 disposed on thebottom surface 21 of the internal space 25. A food may be located on thetray 60. The tray 60 may be installed in the first space 25 a.Particularly, the tray 60 may be installed on the bottom surface 21 ofthe first space 25 a. Since the tray 60 is described above withreference to FIGS. 2 to 10, detailed descriptions thereof will not berepeated.

The cooking apparatus 1 b may further include at least one heater 70configured to heat the food. The at least one heater 70 may be installedin the first space 25 a. For example, the at least one heater 70 may beinstalled on the bottom surface 21 of the first space 25 a or on the topsurface (not shown) of the internal space 25. However, the installationposition of the at least one heater 70 may be modified in various ways.

In case of shaping a food, the food shaping module 100 may be located inthe first space 25 a of the internal space 25. In other words, in caseof three-dimensionally printing a food to be cooked by using the foodingredients contained in the plurality of cartridges 240, the foodshaping module 100 may be located in the first space 25 a of theinternal space 25.

In case of cooking the shaped food, the food shaping module 100 may belocated in the second space 25 b of the internal space 25. In otherwords, in case of cooking the three-dimensionally printed food, the foodshaping module 100 may be located in the second space 25 b of theinternal space 25. This is to prevent the food shaping module 100 frombeing damaged by heat applied to the shaped food during a process ofcooking the food.

In another aspect, the first space 25 a may be defined as a space inwhich the food is shaped and the shaped food is cooked. The second space25 b may be defined as a space in which the food shaping module 100,which has finished the shaping of the food in the first space 25 a,waits for completion of cooking in the first space 25 a.

Referring to FIGS. 34A and 34B, the internal space 25 may be partitionedinto the first space 25 a and the second space 25 b horizontallyadjacent to each other by the partitioning frame 970. Particularly, theinternal space 25 may be partitioned into the first space 25 a and thesecond space 25 b adjacent to each other in the lateral direction Y ofthe cooking apparatus 1 b by the partitioning frame 970. The internalspace 25 may also be partitioned into a plurality of spaces adjacent toeach other in the longitudinal direction X of the cooking apparatus 1 bby the partitioning frame 970.

FIGS. 35A to 35C are views illustrating another process of partitioningan internal space of a main body into a plurality of spaces in thecooking apparatus different from that illustrated in FIGS. 34A to 34Caccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Hereinafter,descriptions given above with reference to FIGS. 34A to 34C will not berepeated. In addition, the same reference numerals may be assigned tothe same elements described above with reference to FIGS. 34A to 34C.

Referring to FIG. 35A to 35C, the internal space 25 may be partitionedinto the first space 25 a and the second space 25 b vertically adjacentto each other by the partitioning frame 970. Particularly, the internalspace 25 may be partitioned into the first space 25 a and the secondspace 25 b adjacent to each other in the vertical direction Z of thecooking apparatus 1 b by the partitioning frame 970.

FIGS. 36A to 36C are views illustrating a process of individually movinga cartridge separated from a cartridge body in a cooking apparatusaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Refer toFIG. 2 for the reference numerals not illustrated herein.

Referring FIGS. 36A to 36C, the cooking apparatus 1 c may include a mainbody 10. The main body 10 may define an appearance of the cookingapparatus 1 c.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include a cooking chamber 20disposed inside the main body 10. The cooking chamber 20 may be definedby a top surface (not shown), a bottom surface 21, a rear surface (notshown), both side surfaces 22, and an open font surface 23. Aninsulating member (not shown) may be disposed between the cookingchamber 20 and the main body 10 to insulate the cooking chamber 20.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include a door 30. Since the door30 is described above with reference to FIG. 2, detailed descriptionsthereof will not be repeated herein.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include a control panel 40 tocontrol the operation of the cooking apparatus 1 c. Since the controlpanel 40 is described above with reference to FIG. 2, detaileddescriptions thereof will not be repeated.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include a cartridge assembly 201.The cartridge assembly 201 may be disposed in the cooking chamber 20 tobe rotatable. Particularly, the cartridge assembly 201 may be rotatablyinstalled on the top surface of the cooking chamber 20.

The cartridge assembly 201 may include a cartridge body 210. Thecartridge body 210 may have a cylindrical shape. However, the shape ofthe cartridge body 210 is not limited thereto and may be modified invarious ways. A plurality of cartridge mounts 220 may be formed on thecartridge body 210. When the cartridge body 210 has a cylindrical shape,the plurality of cartridge mounts 220 may be formed to be recessed on aside surface of the cartridge body 210 along a circumferential directionof the cartridge body 210. The cartridge body 210 may include a rotationshaft coupling part 211 to be coupled to the rotation shaft 141 of therotation adjusting unit 140.

The cartridge assembly 201 may further include a plurality of cartridges240 mounted on the plurality of cartridge mounts 220. Food ingredientsmay be contained in the plurality of cartridges 240. The foodingredients may be in a liquid phase or a solid phase. Also, the foodingredients may be in a powder form. Each of the plurality of cartridges240 may include a containing part 241 and a nozzle part 242 connected tothe containing part 241 and having a discharge port 243.

Different food ingredients may be contained in the plurality ofcartridges 240.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include a rotation adjusting unit140 to rotate the cartridge assembly 201. The rotation adjusting unit140 may include a rotation shaft 141 coupled to the cartridge assembly201. The rotation shaft 141 may be coupled to the cartridge body 210 toenable rotational movement of the cartridge assembly 201. In addition,the rotation adjusting unit 140 may further include a driving motor 142.The driving motor 142 is connected to the rotation shaft 141 to providea rotational force to the rotation shaft 141. In addition, the drivingmotor 142 may be fixedly installed to the top surface of the cookingchamber 20.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include a cartridge carrier 980.The cartridge carrier 980 may be installed in the cooking chamber 20 toindividually moving one of the plurality of cartridges 240 coupled tothe cartridge body 210. The cartridge carrier 980 may be installed inthe cooking chamber 20 so as to be linearly movable. Particularly, thecartridge carrier 980 may move in the longitudinal direction X of thecooking apparatus 1 c, in the lateral direction Y of the cookingapparatus 1 c, and in the vertical direction Z of the cooking apparatus1 a. The movement of the cartridge carrier 980 will be described in moredetail later.

The cartridge carrier 980 may include a casing 981 having a guide part981 a. The casing 981 may be coupled to the moving rods 52 so as to bemovable along the moving rods 52.

The cartridge carrier 980 may further include a moving member 982slidably coupled to the casing 981. The moving member 982 may be coupledto the casing 981 so as to be movable in the vertical direction Z of thecooking apparatus 1 c. The moving member 982 may include a rib 982 acoupled to the guide part 981 a. The moving member 982 may move in thevertical direction Z of the cooking apparatus 1 a in a state where therib 982 a is coupled to the guide part 981 a.

The cartridge carrier 980 may further include a cartridge holder 983holding the cartridge 240. For example, the cartridge carrier 980 mayinclude one cartridge holder 983 to individually move the plurality ofcartridges 240. However, the number of the cartridge holder 983 is notlimited thereto and may be modified in various ways. The cartridgeholder 983 may be formed at the moving member 982.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include a guide rod 50 to guidethe cartridge carrier 980. The guide rod 50 may include fixed rods 51fixedly installed at the both side surfaces 22 of the cooking chamber20. The fixed rods 51 may be fixed to the both side surfaces 22 of thecooking chamber 20 to extend in a longitudinal direction X of thecooking apparatus 1 a. The fixed rods 51 installed at the both sidesurfaces 22 of the cooking chamber 20 may be parallel to each other. Theguide rod 50 may further include moving rods 52 moving along the fixedrods 51. The moving rods 52 may extend in the lateral direction Y of thecooking apparatus 1 c. Both ends of the moving rods 52 may be coupled tothe fixed rods 51 respectively. Particularly, the both ends of themoving rods 52 may be coupled to the fixed rods 51 respectively bybinding members 53 such that the moving rods 52 move in the longitudinaldirection X of the cooking apparatus 1 c along the fixed rods 51.Particularly, the cartridge carrier 980 may be coupled to the movingrods 52 to be movable in the lateral direction Y of the cookingapparatus 1 a along the moving rods 52.

The cartridge carrier 980 may move in the longitudinal direction X ofthe cooking apparatus 1 c. The movement of the cartridge carrier 980 inthe longitudinal direction X of the cooking apparatus 1 c may berealized by movement of the moving rods 52 along the fixed rods 51.

The cartridge carrier 980 may move in the lateral direction Y of thecooking apparatus 1 c. The cartridge carrier 980 may be coupled to themoving rods 52 so as to move in the lateral direction Y of the cookingapparatus 1 a along the moving rods 52.

The cartridge carrier 980 may move in the vertical direction Z of thecooking apparatus 1 c. The movement of the cartridge carrier 980 in thevertical direction Z of the cooking apparatus 1 c may be realized by theoperation of the moving member 982 movably coupled to the casing 981.Particularly, when the moving member 982 moves downward in the cookingapparatus 1 c, the cartridge 240 mounted on the cartridge holder 983also moves downward in the cooking apparatus 1 c. On the contrary, whenthe moving member 982 moves upward in the cooking apparatus 1 c, thecartridge 240 mounted on the cartridge holder 983 also moves upward inthe cooking apparatus 1 a. The movement of the moving member 982 may beguided in the vertical direction Z of the cooking apparatus 1 a viacoupling between the rib 982 a and the guide part 981 a.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include a tray 60 disposed on thebottom surface 21 of the cooking chamber 20. Since the tray 60 isdescribed above with reference to FIG. 2, detailed descriptions thereofwill not be repeated.

The cooking apparatus 1 c may further include at least one heater 70 toheat the food. Since the at least one heater 70 is described above withreference to FIG. 2, detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated.

As illustrated in FIGS. 36A to 36C, the cartridge 240 may be separatedfrom the cartridge body 210 and individually move. For descriptiveconvenience, it is assumed that the plurality of cartridges 240 containdifferent food ingredients.

When a command to select a given cartridge containing a predeterminedfood ingredient among the plurality of cartridges 240 is input to thecooking apparatus 1 a, an operation of searching for the given cartridgeis performed. In this case, the cartridge assembly 201 may rotate aboutthe rotation shaft 141. When the given cartridge is found, the cartridgeis separated from the cartridge body 210 and mounted on the cartridgeholder 983 of the cartridge carrier 980. In this case, the givencartridge may be separated from the cartridge body 210 and mounted onthe cartridge holder 983 in the vertical direction Z of the cookingapparatus 1 a. The given cartridge may freely move in the cookingchamber 20 integrally with the cartridge carrier 980 in a state of beingmounted on the cartridge holder 983.

FIG. 37 is a block diagram illustrating a cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 37, a cooking apparatus 1000 may include a userinterface 1020 configured to interact with a user, a temperature sensingunit 1030 (e.g., a temperature sensing device) configured to sensetemperature of a cooking chamber, a shaping unit 1040 (e.g., a shapingdevice) configured to shape a food, a heating unit 1050 (e.g., a heatingdevice) configured to heat the food, a storage 1060 (e.g., a memory)configured to store programs and data, a communicator 1070 (e.g., atransceiver) configured to communicate with an external device, and acontroller 1010 (e.g., at least one processor) configured to control theoperation of the cooking apparatus 1000.

The user interface 1020 may include an input device 1021 configured toreceive a command from the user and a touch-sensitive display 1022configured to receive a touch input of the user and display informationin response to the received touch input.

The input device 1021 may include various types of input devices such asa push button, a keyboard, a touch button, a lever, a slide switch, ajoystick, a jog dial, and a shuttle dial capable of receiving the usercommand.

The input device 1021 may receive a pre-allocated user command. Forexample, the input device 1021 may include a power button to receive acommand to turn on or off the cooking apparatus 1000, an operationbutton to receive a command to start or stop the operation of cookingapparatus 1000, a time setting dial to set an operation time of thecooking apparatus 1000, and the like.

The touch-sensitive display 1022 may receive a touch input of the userand display information in response to the touch input of the user.

The touch-sensitive display 1022 may include a touch panel configured toreceive the touch input of the user, a display panel configured tovisually display information, and a controller configured to control theoperation of the touch-sensitive display 1022. The touch panel may bestacked on the display panel.

The touch-sensitive display 1022 may display various graphic userinterfaces and receive a touch input of the user applied to the graphicuser interface. For example, the touch-sensitive display 1022 maydisplay a screen through which a food model, i.e., a 3D shape,ingredient, color, and the like of food is input and may input the foodmodel in accordance with the touch input of the user.

The touch panel of the touch-sensitive display 1022 may include acapacitive touch panel, a resistive touch panel, an ultrasonic touchpanel, an infrared touch panel, and the like. In addition, the displaypanel of the touch-sensitive display 1022 may include a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) panel, a light emitting diode (LED) panel, an organic LED(OLED) panel, and the like.

The temperature sensing unit 1030 may include a temperature sensor 1031configured to sense a temperature of the cooking chamber in which thefood is heated and output an electrical signal corresponding to thesensed temperature. The temperature sensor 1031 may be disposed insidethe cooking chamber and may include a thermistor whose electricalresistance value changes in accordance with temperature.

The shaping unit 1040 corresponds to the above-described food shapingmodule and may shape a food in accordance with the shape, ingredient,and color of the food input by the user (hereinafter, referred to as“food model”).

The shaping unit 1040 may include a cartridge assembly 200 and a drivingdevice 120 configured to drive the cartridge assembly 200.

The cartridge assembly 200 may store food ingredients and discharge foodingredients in accordance with food shaping data of the controller 1010.

The driving device 120 may move the cartridge assembly 200 and locatethe cartridge assembly 200 at a position preset according to the foodshaping data of the controller 1010.

Particularly, the cartridge assembly 200 may discharge the foodingredients by repeating of movement and stopping by the driving device120. The food ingredients discharged from the cartridge assembly 200 mayform the food.

The heating unit 1050 may heat the food inside the cooking chamber invarious ways. For example, the heating unit 1050 may include a grillheater 1051 (e.g., a grill heating device) configured to radiate radiantheat into the cooking chamber, a convection heater 1052 configured tosupply hot air into the cooking chamber, a microwave heater 1053configured to radiate microwaves into the cooking chamber, or the like.

The grill heater 1051 may include a hot wire capable of convertingelectric energy into thermal energy. The hot wire of the grill heater1051 may be disposed at an upper portion in the cooking chamber and mayradiate radiant heat toward the food located in the cooking chamber fromthe upper portion of the cooking chamber.

The convection heater 1052 may include a hot wire to convert electricenergy into thermal energy, a fan to circulate air, and a motor to drivethe fan. The convection heater 1052 may heat surrounding air and the fanmay supply the air heated by the hot wire into the cooking chamber.

The microwave heater 1053 may include a magnetron capable of generatingmicrowaves and an antenna to radiate the generated microwaves into thecooking chamber. The microwave heater 1053 may generate microwaveshaving a frequency of about 2.4 giga-hertz (GHz) to 2.5 GHz. Themicrowave heater 1053 may heat the food by strongly rotating waterinside the food by the microwaves.

The user may select one of various cooking methods depending on food andcooked food and at least one of the grill heater 1051, the convectionheater 1052, and the microwave heater 1053 may be operated in accordancewith the selected cooking method. For example, when the user cooks acookie or pizza, the convection heater 1052 may be operated. When theuser cooks meats such as sausage, the grill heater 1051 may be operated.

The storage 1060 may include a control program to control the operationof the cooking apparatus 1000. For example, the storage 1060 may storean operation system (OS) configured to manage resources (software andhardware) included in the cooking apparatus 1000, a modeling programconfigured to receive information on the shape, ingredient, and color offood via the user interface 1020, a food shaping program configured tocontrol the shaping unit 1040 to shape the food in accordance with thefood model, a food heating program configured to control the heatingunit 1050 to heat the food in accordance with the cooking method, andthe like.

Also, the storage 1060 may store a database including a plurality offood models and cooking methods for the respective food models. The foodmodel may include the shape, ingredient, and color of food and thecooking method may include an operated heating unit 1050, cookingtemperature inside the cooking chamber, and cooking time for operatingthe heating unit 1050, and the like.

The storage 1060 may include a magnetic disc drive 1061 and asolid-state drive 1062 capable of storing programs and data for a longtime.

The communicator 1070 may receive information from the user equipmentand transmit information to the user equipment. For example, thecommunicator 1070 may receive information on the food model from theuser equipment and transmit information on the operation of the cookingapparatus 1000 to the user equipment.

The communicator 1070 may include a wired communication module 1071configured to transmit/receive information to/from the user equipment ina wired manner and a wireless communication module 1072 (e.g., awireless communication device or transceiver) configured totransmit/receive information to/from the user equipment in a wirelessmanner.

The wired communication module 1071 (e.g., a wired communication deviceor transceiver) may transmit/receive information using various wiredcommunication protocols such as ethernet or universal serial bus (USB)communication. Particularly, the wired communication module 1071 maytransmit information to the user equipment or the information relaydevice via a communication cable and receive information from the userequipment or the information relay device via the communication cable.The wired communication module 1071 may include a transceiver, acommunication port, and the like.

The wireless communication module 1072 may transmit/receive informationusing various wireless communication protocols such as wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi™) or Bluetooth (BT®). Particularly, the wireless communicationmodule 1072 may transmit information to the user equipment or theinformation relay device through radio waves and receive informationfrom the user equipment or the information relay device through radiowaves. The wireless communication module 1072 may include a transceiver,an antenna, and the like.

The controller 1010 may include a processor 1011 configured to generatea control signal to control the operation of the cooking apparatus 1000and a memory 1012 (e.g., a storage) configured to store programs anddata to control the operation of the cooking apparatus 1000.

The processor 1011 may process a touch input of the user input via theuser interface 1020 and generate a food model based on the touch input.

Also, the processor 1011 may process data on the food model input viathe user interface 1020, received via the communicator 1070, or storedin the storage 1060 and generate food shaping data to shape the foodbased on the food model. For example, the food shaping data may includeinformation on food ingredients constituting the food, information oncoordinates of a position to which the food ingredients are discharged,and information on discharge amounts of the food ingredients. Theshaping unit 1040 may form the food in accordance with the food shapingdata output from the processor 1011.

Also, the processor 1011 may process data on a cooking method input viathe user interface 1020, received through the communicator 1070, orstored in the storage 1060 and generate food heating data to heat thefood based on the cooking method. For example, the food heating data mayinclude information on the operated heating devices 1051, 1052, 1053,and 1054, information on temperature of the cooking chamber, and cookingtime of the heating devices 1051, 1052, 1053, and 1054. The heating unit1050 may heat the food in accordance with the food heating data outputfrom the processor 1011.

The memory 1012 may store a program to receive an input of the foodmodel and the cooking method via the user interface 1020 and a programto process data on the food model and/or data on the cooking method andgenerate food shaping data and/or food heating data. In addition, thememory 1012 may temporarily store data on the food model and/or data onthe cooking method to be processed by the processor 1011 and foodshaping data and/or food heating data output from the processor 1011.

The memory 1012 may include volatile memory such as static random accessmemory (S-RAM) and dynamic RAM (D-RAM) and non-volatile memory such asread only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), andelectrically erasable PROM (EEPROM).

As described above, the controller 1010 may generate data on the foodmodel and/or data on the cooking method in accordance with the touchinput received via the user interface 1020 and output food shaping datato control the operation of the shaping unit 1040 according to the foodmodel and food heating data to control the operation of the heating unit1050 in accordance with the cooking method.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram of a user equipment according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 38, the user equipment 1100 may include a userinterface 1120 configured to interact with a user, a sound unit 1130(e.g., a sound device) configured to receive and output sounds, an imageacquisition unit 1140 (e.g., an image acquisition device) configured toacquire an image, a storage 1160 (e.g., a memory) configured to storeprograms and data, a communicator 1170 (e.g., a transceiver) configuredto communicate with external devices, and a controller 1110 (e.g., atleast one processor) configured to control the operation of the userequipment 1100.

The user interface 1120 may include an input device 1121 (e.g., an inputbutton) configured to receive a user command and a touch-sensitivedisplay 1122 configured to receive a touch input of the user and displayinformation in response to the received touch input.

The input device 1121 may include various types of input devices such asa push button, a keyboard, a touch button, a lever, a slide switch, ajoystick, a jog dial, a shuttle dial, a mouse, and a trackball capableof receiving the user command.

The input device 1121 may receive a pre-allocated user command. Forexample, the input device 1121 may include a power button to receive acommand to turn on or off the user equipment 1100, a volume button toadjust sounds output from the sound unit 1130 of the user equipment1100, and the like.

The touch-sensitive display 1122 may receive a touch input of the userand display information in response to the touch input of the user.

The touch-sensitive display 1122 may include a touch panel configured toreceive the touch input of the user, a display panel configured tovisually display information, and a controller configured to control theoperation of the touch-sensitive display 1122. The touch panel may bestacked on the display panel.

The touch-sensitive display 1122 may display various graphic userinterfaces and receive a touch input of the user applied to the graphicuser interface. For example, the touch-sensitive display 1122 maydisplay a screen through which a food model, i.e., a 3D shape,ingredient, color, and the like of food, is input and may receive thefood model in accordance with the touch input of the user.

The sound unit 1130 may include a microphone 1131 configured to receivesounds from the user and a speaker 1132 configured to output sounds. Themicrophone 1131 may acquire a sound signal and output an electricalsignal corresponding to the acquired sound signal. In addition, thespeaker 1132 may receive an electrical signal and output a sound signalcorresponding to the received electrical signal.

The image acquisition unit 1140 may include a camera 1141 configured toacquire an image. The camera 1141 may include a plurality of opticalsensors configured to output an electrical signal corresponding to colorand intensity of light reflected by an object or radiated from theobject. By two-dimensionally aligning the plurality of optical sensors,the camera 1141 may convert an image into image data that is electricalsignals. The image data may include information on the shape and colorof an object.

The storage 1160 may include a control program to control the operationof the user equipment 1100. For example, the storage 1160 may store anoperation system (OS) configured to manage resources (software andhardware) included in the user equipment 1100, a modeling programconfigured to receive information on the shape, ingredient, and color offood via the user interface 1120, an imaging program configured toprocess and store the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 1140,and the like.

Also, the storage 1160 may store a database including a plurality offood models and cooking methods for the respective food models. The foodmodel may include the shape, ingredient, and color of food and thecooking method may include an operated heating unit 1050 of the cookingapparatus 1000, cooking temperature inside the coming chamber of thecooking apparatus 1000, and cooking time for operating the heating unit1050 of the cooking apparatus 1000, and the like.

The storage 1160 may include a magnetic disc drive 1161 and asolid-state drive 1162 capable of storing programs and data for a longtime.

The communicator 1170 may receive information from the cooking apparatusand transmit information to the cooking apparatus. For example, thecommunicator 1170 may receive information on the food model from thecooking apparatus and transmit information on the operation of thecooking apparatus to the cooking apparatus.

The communicator 1170 may include a wired communication module 1171(e.g., a wired communication device) configured to transmit/receiveinformation to/from the cooking apparatus in a wired manner and awireless communication module 1172 (e.g., a wireless communicationdevice) configured to transmit/receive information to/from the cookingapparatus in a wireless manner.

The wired communication module 1171 may transmit/receive informationusing various wired communication protocols such as ethernet oruniversal serial bus (USB) communication. Particularly, the wiredcommunication module 1171 may transmit information to the user equipmentor the information relay device via a communication cable and receiveinformation from the user equipment or the information relay device viathe communication cable. The wired communication module 1171 may includea transceiver, a communication port, and the like.

The wireless communication module 1172 may transmit/receive informationvia short-range wireless networks such as Wi-Fi™ and Bluetooth® and/ormobile communication methods such as global system for mobilecommunication (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband codedivision multiple access (WCDMA), universal mobile telecommunicationssystem (UMTS), time division multiple access (TDMA), and long termevolution (LTE). Particularly, the wireless communication module 1172may transmit information to the user equipment or the information relaydevice through radio waves and receive information from the userequipment or the information relay device through radio waves. Thewireless communication module 1172 may include a transceiver, anantenna, and the like.

The controller 1110 may include a processor 1111 configured to generatea control signal to control the operation of the user equipment 1100 anda memory 1112 configured to store programs and data to control theoperation of the user equipment 1100.

The processor 1111 may process a touch input of the user received viathe user interface 1120 and generate data on the food model and thecooking method based on the touch input. In addition, the processor 1111may generate a communication control single to transmit the data on thefood model and the cooking method to the cooking apparatus 1000. Thecommunicator 1170 may transmit the data on the food model and thecooking method to the cooking apparatus 1000 in accordance with thecommunication control signal.

The memory 1112 may store a program to receive an input of the foodmodel and the cooking method via the user interface 1120. In addition,the memory 1012 may temporarily store data on the food model and thecooking method generated by the processor 1011.

The memory 1112 may include volatile memory such as S-RAM and D-RAM andnon-volatile memory such as ROM, EPROM, and EEPROM.

As described above, the controller 1110 may generate data on the foodmodel and/or data on the cooking method in accordance with the touchinput received via the user interface 1120 and transmit the data on thefood model and/or data on the cooking method to the cooking apparatus1000 via the communicator 1170.

Hereinafter, a cooking operation of the cooking apparatus 1000 will bedescribed.

FIG. 39 illustrates a cooking operation of a cooking apparatus accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 39, a cooking operation 2000 of the cooking apparatus1000 may include acquiring a food model in operation 2010, acquiring acooking method in operation 2020, shaping a food in operation 2030, andheating the food (2040).

The acquiring of the food model in operation 2010 may include a seriesof processes including receiving an input of a shape, ingredient, andcolor of food and generating a food model including the shape,ingredient, and color of food.

For example, the cooking apparatus 1000 may generate the food model inaccordance with a touch input of the user received via the userinterface 1020, retrieve data on the food model from the storage 1060,or receive the data on the food model via the communicator 1070.

The generating of the food model is not limitedly performed by thecooking apparatus 1000. For example, the user equipment 1100 maygenerate the food model based on the touch input of the user receivedvia the user interface 1120 and transmit the data on the food model tothe cooking apparatus 1000 via the communicator 1170.

The acquiring of the cooking method in operation 2020 may include aseries of processes including selecting a heating device to heat thefood (e.g., the grill heater, the convection heater, and the microwaveheater), setting a cooking temperature of the cooking chamber, andsetting a cooking time.

For example, the cooking apparatus 1000 may select the heating unit1050, set the cooking temperature, and set the cooking time inaccordance with the touch input of the user input via the user interface1020.

The acquiring of the cooking method is not limitedly performed by thecooking apparatus 1000. For example, the user equipment 1100 may selectthe heating unit 1050 of the cooking apparatus 1000, set the cookingtemperature, and set the cooking time in accordance with the touch inputof the user input via the user interface 1020. Also, the user equipment1100 may transmit the data on the cooking method to the cookingapparatus 1000 via the communicator 1170.

The shaping of the food in operation 2030 may include a series ofprocesses including shaping the food by the shaping unit 1040 of thecooking apparatus 1000 in accordance with the food model.

For example, the cooking apparatus 1000 may determine food ingredientsconstituting the food in accordance with the food model, calculatecoordinates of the position to which the food ingredients aredischarged, and calculate discharge amounts of the food ingredients. Thefood ingredients, discharge coordinates, and discharge amounts mayconstitute food shaping data. In addition, the cooking apparatus 1000may select cartridges containing the food ingredients, moving thecartridges to the discharge coordinates, and drive the cartridges inaccordance with the discharge amounts.

The heating of the food in operation 2040 may include a series ofprocesses of heating the food by the heating unit 1050 of the foodshaping module 100 in accordance with the cooking method.

For example, the cooking apparatus 1000 may select one of the heatingdevices 1051, 1052, 1053, and 1054 to operate in accordance with thecooking method and operate the selected heating device 1051, 1052, 1053,or 1054 until the temperature of the cooking chamber reaches a desiredcooking temperature. In addition, when the temperature of the cookingchamber reaches the cooking temperature, the cooking apparatus 1000 mayrepeat starting and stopping of the operation of the heating device1051, 1052, 1053, or 1054 to maintain the temperature of the cookingchamber at the cooking temperature. In addition, when a cooking time haslapsed after the operation of the heating device 1051, 1052, 1053, or1054 are initiated, the cooking apparatus 1000 may stop the operation ofthe heating device 1051, 1052, 1053, or 1054.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 may cook the food havinga desired shape by acquiring the food model and the cooking method andshaping and heating the food.

FIG. 40 illustrates a method of acquiring a food model and a cookingmethod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 41illustrates a main screen according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 42 illustrates a model creation screen to create a foodmodel according to an embodiment. FIG. 43 illustrates a cooking methodsetting screen to set a cooking method for a food according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

A method of acquiring a food model and a cooking method in operation2100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 40, 41, 42, and 43.

A process of acquiring a food model and a cooking method is initiated inoperation 2110.

The cooking apparatus 1000 may initiate the process of acquiring thefood model and the cooking method in response to a food shaping/cookingcommand input from the user via the user interface 1020.

As described above, the acquiring of the food model and the cookingmethod is not limitedly performed by the cooking apparatus 1000. Theuser equipment 1100 may also initiate the acquisition of the food modeland the cooking method in response to the food shaping/cooking commandinput from the user via the user interface 1120.

The user may select automatic cooking or food drawing in operation 2120.

The cooking apparatus 1000 may acquire the food model and the cookingmethod in various ways.

The cooking apparatus 1000 may use a previously created food model and apreset cooking method (automatic cooking) or receive a food model and acooking method from the user (food drawing). In the automatic cookingmode, the cooking apparatus 1000 may automatically shape a first byusing the previously created food model and the preset cooking methodand heat the shaped food. In the food drawing mode, the cookingapparatus 1000 may receive inputs of a food model and a cooking methodfrom the user, shape a food in accordance with the input food model, andheat the food in accordance with the input cooking method.

The user may select a method of acquiring the food model and the cookingmethod via the cooking apparatus 1000. For example, the controller 1010of the cooking apparatus 1000 may display a main screen 3000 to selectthe method of acquiring the food model and the cooking method on theuser interface 1020.

The main screen 3000 may include an automatic cooking button 3001 to usethe previously created food model and the preset cooking method, a modelcreating button 3002 to directly receive the food model from the user, acooking method setting button 3003 to receive an input of the cookingmethod from the user, an output button 3004 to shape and heat the food,and the like. When the user touches the automatic cooking button 3001 ofthe main selection screen 3000, the automatic cooking is selected. Whenthe user touches the model creating button 3002 of the main screen 3000,the food drawing may be selected.

In addition, the user may also select the method of acquiring the foodmodel and the cooking method via the user equipment 1100. For example,the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may display the mainscreen 3000 including the automatic cooking button 3001, the modelcreating button 3002, and the cooking method setting button 3003 on theuser interface 1120 as illustrated in FIG. 41. In accordance with atouch input of the user on the main screen 3000, the operation ofautomatic cooking or food drawing may be selected.

When the automatic cooking is selected (“automatic cooking” in operation2120), a food is selected by the user in operation 2130.

The user who has selected the automatic cooking may select a food to becooked. For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000may display the main screen 3000 on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 41. The main screen 3000 may include food buttons3001 a indicating various names of food such as cookie, pizza, cake, andstake. The user may confirm the names of food displayed on the pluralityof food buttons 3001 a and touch one of the plurality of food buttons3001 a.

Also, the user may select a food via the user equipment 1100. Forexample, the controller 1010 of the user equipment 1100 may display themain screen 3000 including the food buttons 3001 a indicating names ofvarious foods on the user interface 1120 as illustrated in FIG. 41. Afood may be selected in accordance with a touch input of the user on thefood buttons 3001 a.

A food model and a cooking method for the food selected by the user areacquired in operation 2140.

The cooking apparatus 1000 may acquire the previously created food modeland the cooking method of the food selected via the food button 3001 aof the main screen 3000 in various ways. For example, the controller1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may retrieve data on the food modeland the cooking method from the storage 1060. The data on the food modeland the cooking method may be pre-stored in storage 1060 of the cookingapparatus 1000. The food model and the cooking method of the storage1060 may be previously created by a designer of the cooking apparatus1000 and stored therein or created by the user and stored therein.

As another example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000may acquire the food model and the cooking method from an externaldevice via the communicator 1070. The controller 1010 may request forthe food model and the cooking method from the user equipment 1100 andother servers through the communicator 1070 and may receive data on thefood model and the cooking method from the user equipment 1100 or otherservers.

The user equipment 1100 may also acquire the previously created foodmodel and the preset cooking method for the food in various ways. Forexample, the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may retrievedata on the food model and the cooking method from the storage 1160 orreceive data on the food model and the cooking method from other serverdevices via the communicator 1170. Next, the user equipment 1100 maytransmit the data on the food model and the cooking method to thecooking apparatus 1000 in accordance with a command of the user.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may acquire the previously created food model and the presetcooking method in the automatic cooking mode. In addition, the cookingapparatus 1000 may shape the food in accordance with the previouslycreated food model and heat the food in accordance with the presetcooking method.

When the food drawing is selected (“food drawing” in operation 2120),the food model is input from the user in operation 2150.

The user who has selected the food drawing may create a food model viathe cooking apparatus 1000. For example, the controller 1010 of thecooking apparatus 1000 may display a model creation screen 3020 tocreate a food model on the user interface 1020 as illustrated in FIG.42. The model creation screen 3020 may include a model drawing region3021 to allow the user to directly draw a food model. The user may drawthe food model on the model drawing region 3021 by touching the modeldrawing region 3021 and dragging the touch.

In addition, the user may create a food model via the user equipment1100. For example, the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 maydisplay the model creation screen 3020 including the model drawingregion 3021 to create the food model on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 42. The user may draw a food model on the modeldrawing region 3021 displayed on the user equipment 1100, and thecontroller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may transmit data on the foodmodel to the cooking apparatus 1000.

The cooking method for the food is input by the user in operation 2160.

The user who has selected the food drawing may set a cooking method forthe food via the cooking apparatus 1000. For example, the controller1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may display a cooking method settingscreen 3030 to set the cooking method for the food on the user interface1020 as illustrated in FIG. 43. The cooking method setting screen 3030may include a first setting region 3031 to set a heating device (e.g.,grill heater, convection heater, and microwave heater) and a cookingtime for each heating device and a second setting region 3032 to set acooking time by the heating device. The user may select the heatingdevice and set the cooking time and cooking temperature by using thefirst setting region 3031 and the second setting region 3032 of thecooking method setting screen 3030.

Also, the user may set the cooking method for the food through the userequipment 1100. For example, the controller 1110 of the user equipment1100 may display the cooking method setting screen 3030 to set thecooking method for the food on the user interface 1020 as illustrated inFIG. 43. After the cooking method is set by the user, the controller1110 of the user equipment 1100 may transmit data on the cooking methodto the cooking apparatus 1000 via the communicator 1170.

As described above, by the food drawing, the cooking apparatus 1000 orthe user equipment 1100 may receive the food model and the cookingmethod from the user. Also, the cooking apparatus 1000 may shape thefood in accordance with the food model created by the user and heat thefood in accordance with the cooking method set by the user.

FIG. 44 illustrates a method of notifying an insufficient foodingredient by automatic cooking according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. FIG. 45 illustrates an insufficient ingredientnotification screen to notify a user of an insufficient food ingredientaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In case of shaping the food by the above-described automatic cooking,food ingredients may not be sufficient to shape the food. In this case,the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may notify theinsufficient food ingredient to the user.

A method of notifying an insufficient food ingredient (2200) will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 44 and 45.

After prepared food ingredients are recognized, the quantities of theprepared food ingredients are determined in operation 2210.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may recognize thefood ingredients prepared in the cooking apparatus 1000 and determinethe quantities of the food ingredients.

The cooking apparatus 1000 may identify a cartridge assembly installedin the cooking apparatus 1000 to recognize prepared food ingredients.For example, the cooking apparatus 1000 may identify the cartridgeassembly by using a bar code, quick response (QR) code, or radiofrequency identification (RF-ID). Particularly, the bar code, QR code,or RF tag including identification information of a cartridge assemblyis attached to the cartridge assembly, and the cooking apparatus 1000may sense identification information of the cartridge assembly by usinga bar code reader, a QR code reader, or an RF reader.

In addition, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 mayrecord information on lifespan of the cartridge assembly in the storage1060 to determine the quantities of the prepared food ingredients. Forexample, when the cartridge assembly is used, the controller 1010 mayrecord discharge amounts, discharge numbers, or discharge time of thefood ingredients contained in the cartridge assembly in the storage1060. The controller 1010 may determine the quantities of the foodingredients based on the information on the lifespan of the cartridgeassembly.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may request the cookingapparatus 1000 for the quantities of the food ingredients via thecommunicator 1170 to recognize the prepared food ingredients. Inresponse to the required of the user equipment 1100, the controller 1010of the cooking apparatus 1000 may identify the cartridge assembly anddetermine the quantities of the food ingredients based on theinformation on the lifespan of the cartridge assembly. Then, thecontroller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may transmit thequantities of the food ingredients to the user equipment 1100 via thecommunicator 1070.

The prepared food ingredients are compared with ingredients of the foodselected by the user in operation 2220.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may compare theprepared food ingredients with the ingredients of the food selected bythe user.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may extractinformation on food ingredients from the food model of the food selectedby the user and compare the extracted food ingredients with foodingredients contained in the cartridge assembly. Furthermore, thecontroller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may compare the quantitiesof the food ingredient extracted from the food model with the quantitiesof the food ingredient contained in the cartridge assembly.

In addition, the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may alsoextract information on food ingredient from the food model of the foodselected by the user and compare the extracted food ingredients withfood ingredients contained in the cartridge assembly.

Insufficient food ingredients are displayed in operation 2230.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may display foodingredients determined as being insufficient as a result of comparisonbetween the prepared food ingredients and the ingredients of the foodselected by the user.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maydisplay an insufficient ingredient notification screen 3040 to notifythe user of insufficient food ingredients on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 45. The insufficient ingredient notification screen3040 may include a quantity display region 3041 to display thequantities of the food ingredients prepared in the cooking apparatus1000 and an insufficient ingredient display region 3042 to display aninsufficient food ingredient and the quantity of the insufficient foodingredient. In addition, the insufficient ingredient display region 3042may include a purchase button 3042 a connected to an online market wherethe insufficient food ingredients may be purchased.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also display theinsufficient ingredient notification screen 3040 on the user interface1120 as illustrated in FIG. 45. Via the insufficient ingredientnotification screen 3040, the insufficient food ingredients may benotified to the user.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may notify the insufficient food ingredients to the user.

FIG. 46 illustrates a method of recommending a food by automatic cookingaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 47illustrates a food recommendation screen to recommend a food accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure.

When the food is shaped by automatic cooking as described above, thecooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may recommend a foodto the user in accordance with prepared food ingredients.

A method of recommending a food (2250) will be described with referenceto FIGS. 46 and 47.

Prepared food ingredients are recognized in operation 2260.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may recognize foodingredients prepared in the cooking apparatus 1000.

The cooking apparatus 1000 may identify the cartridge assembly installedin the cooking apparatus 1000 to recognize the prepared foodingredients. For example, the cooking apparatus 1000 may identify thecartridge assembly by using a bar code, QR code, or RF-ID.

In addition, the user equipment 1100 may request the cooking apparatus1000 for data on food ingredients to recognize the prepared foodingredients. In response to the request from the user equipment 1100,the cooking apparatus 1000 may identify the cartridge assembly installedin the cooking apparatus 1000 and transmit data on the food ingredientscontained in the cartridge assembly to the user equipment 1100.

Foods are searched for based on the prepared food ingredients inoperation 2270.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may search forfoods based on the prepared food ingredients.

For example, the cooking apparatus 1000 may search for a food modelstored in the storage 1060 based on the prepared food ingredients orrequest an external server device for a food model including theprepared food ingredients. The user equipment 1100 may also search for afood model stored in the storage 1060 based on the prepared foodingredients or request an external server device for a food modelincluding the prepared food ingredients.

Foods are recommended based on the prepared food ingredients inoperation 2280.

After the food model is searched, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the userequipment 1100 may recommend the food to the user.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maydisplay a food recommendation screen 3050 on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 47. The food recommendation screen 3050 may includea food ingredient display region 3051 to display food ingredientsprepared in the cooking apparatus 1000 and a food recommend region 3052to recommend a food. In addition, the food recommend region 3052 maydisplay a select button 3052 a to select the recommended food.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also display the foodrecommendation screen 3050 on the user interface 1120 as illustrated inFIG. 47. The food may be recommended to the user via the foodrecommendation screen 3050 and may be selected by the user.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may recommend a food to be cooked to the user in accordance withprepared food ingredients.

FIG. 48 illustrates an example of a method of creating a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIGS.49, 50, 51, 52, and 53 illustrate examples of receiving a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The user may directly input information on a shape, thickness,ingredient, and color of a food constituting the food model.

A method of creating a food model (2300) will be described withreference to FIGS. 49, 50, 51, 52, and 53.

A food shape is input in operation 2310 and the food shape is displayedin operation 2320.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of the food shape from the user and display the input food shapein real time.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maydisplay a model creation screen 3060 to create a food model on the userinterface 1020 as illustrated in FIG. 49. The user may touch a point ofthe model creation screen 3060 and drag the touch point. The controller1010 may store coordinates of a moving path of the touch point of theuser and display a line representing the moving path of the touch pointof the user. A food shape 3061 may be formed by such lines.

In other words, the user (U) may draw the food shape 3061 on the userinterface 1020. The controller 1010 may store the food shape 3061 drawnon the user interface 1020 by the user and display the food shape 3061on the user interface 1020.

The food shape 3061 may be divided into a plurality of sections by linesinput by the user and the divided sections may be separately managed.For example, when the user draws a line 3061 b crossing a circle 3061 a,a pair of semicircles 3061 c and 3061 d divided by the line 3061 b maybe separately managed. In other words, a first semicircle 3061 c and asecond semicircle 3061 d may have different thicknesses, includedifferent ingredients, or have different colors.

In addition, the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may alsodisplay the model creation screen 3060 on the user interface 1120 asillustrated in FIG. 49, and the user may draw the food shape 3061 on theuser interface 1120.

As another example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000may display a model creation screen 3070 on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 50. The model creation screen 3070 may include areference image 3071. The reference image 3071 may be an imagerepresenting the food selected by the user.

The user may draw the food shape on the user interface 1020 withreference to the reference image 3071. The controller 1010 may store afood shape 3072 drawn on the user interface 1020 by the user and displaythe food shape 3072 on the user interface 1020.

In addition, the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may alsodisplay the model creation screen 3070 on the user interface 1120 asillustrated in FIG. 50, and the user may draw the food shape 3072 on theuser interface 1120 with reference to the reference image 3071.

As another example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000may display a model creation screen 3080 on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 51. The controller 1010 may display a figure drawingmenu 3081 on the model creation screen 3080 in accordance with a touchinput of the user. When the user maintains a touch on the user interface1020 for a predetermined time or longer or touches the user interface1020 twice or more within a given time, the controller 1010 may displaythe figure drawing menu 3081 on the model creation screen 3080.

The figure drawing menu 3081 may include a line draw button 3082, acircle draw button 3083, a square draw button 3084, and the like toallow the user to easily draw the shape of food. The user may easilydraw the shape of food including lines, circles, squares, triangles, orthe like by using the figure drawing menu 3081. The controller 1010 maystore the shape of food drawn using the lines, circles, squares,triangles, and the like by the user and display the food shape on theuser interface 1020.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also display themodel creation screen 3080 on the user interface 1120 as illustrated inFIG. 51, and the user may draw the shape of food on the user interface1120 by using the figure drawing menu 3081 of the model creation screen3080.

After the creation of the food shape is completed, the thickness,ingredient, and color of food are input in operation 2330.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of the thickness, ingredient, and color of food from the user.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maydisplay a model creation screen 3090 to prepare a food model on the userinterface 1020 as illustrated in FIG. 52.

When the user touches the food shape 3091 after creation of the foodshape 3091 is completed, the controller 1010 may display a firstadditional information input menu 3092 through which the thickness,ingredient, and color of food are input. The user may input thethickness, ingredient, and color of food via the first additionalinformation input menu 3092.

Particularly, a section of the food model defined by the thickness,ingredient, and color of food input by the user is limited to an areainside of a closed curve including a touch point of the user. Forexample, the thickness, ingredient, and color of food input with regardto a first section 3091 a of the food shape 3091 by the user only definethe thickness, ingredient, and color of the first section 3091 a. Inother words, a second section 3091 b, which is not selected, may have athickness, ingredient, and color different from those of the firstsection 3091 a.

The controller 1010 may create a food model by using the thickness,ingredient, and color of food input via the first additional informationinput menu 3092 and the previously drawn shape of the food.

In addition, in case of a food having a plurality of layers (forexample, a pizza may include a dough layer, a cheese layer, and a sourcelayer), the model creation screen 3090 may further include a layer addbutton 3093 to input thickness, ingredient, and color of each of theplurality of layers.

When the user touches the layer add button 3093, the controller 1010 maydisplay a second additional information input menu 3094 to input athickness, ingredient, and color of a second layer of the food asillustrated in FIG. 53. The user may input the thickness, ingredient,and color of food via the second additional information input menu 3094.

In addition, the controller 1010 may create a food model by using thethickness, ingredient, and color of the first layer of the food inputvia the first additional information input menu 3092, the thickness,ingredient, and color of the second layer of the food input via thesecond additional information input menu 3094, and the previously drawnfood shape.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also display themodel creation screen 3090 on the user interface 1120 as illustrated inFIGS. 52 and 53. The user may input the thickness, ingredient, and colorof food via the first additional information input menu 3092 and thesecond additional information input menu 3094.

As described above, the user may draw the shape of food on the userinterface 1020 or 1120, and the cooking apparatus 1000 or the userequipment 1100 may store the shape of food drawn on the user interface1020 or 1120. In addition, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the userequipment 1100 may receive an input of the thickness, ingredient, andcolor of food via the user interface 1020 or 1120 and create the foodmodel based on the input thickness, ingredient, and color of food.

FIG. 54 illustrates another example of a method of creating a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIGS.55 and 56 illustrate examples of receiving a food model according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

The user may use a pre-stored food shape or directly input informationon a thickness, ingredient, and color of food to create a food model.

A method of creating a food model (2400) will be described withreference to FIGS. 54, 55, and 56.

A pre-stored food shape is selected in operation 2410.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may allow the userto select a food shape. The food shape does not include information onthe thickness, ingredient, and color of food but may only includeinformation on the appearance of the food.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maydisplay a model creation screen 3100 to create a food model on the userinterface 1020 as illustrated in FIG. 55. The controller 1010 maydisplay a food shape selection menu 3101 on the model creation screen3100 in accordance with a touch input of the user. When the usermaintains a touch on the user interface 1020 for a predetermined time orlonger or touches the user interface 1020 twice or more within a giventime, the controller 1010 may display the food shape selection menu 3101on the model creation screen 3100.

The food shape selection menu 3101 may include food buttons 3101 aindicating various names of food such as cookie, pizza, cake, and stake.The user may confirm the names of food displayed on the plurality offood buttons 3101 a and touch one of the plurality of food buttons 3101a.

In response to the user's selection, the controller 1010 may retrievedata on the selected food shape from the storage 1060 or receive data onthe food shape from an external device via the communicator 1070.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also display themodel creation screen 3100 on the user interface 1120 as illustrated inFIG. 55 and may display the food shape selection menu 3101 in accordancewith a touch input of the user.

The food shape selected by the user is displayed in operation 2420.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may display thefood shape selected by the user.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may display the foodshape selected by the user on the user interface 1020. For example, thecontroller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may display a modelcreation screen 3110 including the food shape 3111 on the user interface1020 as illustrated in FIG. 56. The model creation screen 3110 may alsoinclude a shape modification button 3112 to modify the food shape 3111.

When the user touches the shape modification button 3112, the user mayedit the food shape 3111 displayed on the model creation screen 3110.

In addition, the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may alsodisplay the food shape 3111 on the user interface 1020 as illustrated inFIG. 56 in accordance with the user's selection.

After the food shape is selected, the thickness, ingredient, and colorof food is input in operation 2430.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may receive thethickness, ingredient, and color of food from the user. For example,when the user touches the inside of the food shape display on the userinterface 1020 after completion of selection of the food shape, the usermay input the thickness, ingredient, and color of food.

Particularly, a section of the food model defined by the thickness,ingredient, and color of food input by the user is limited to an areainside of a closed curve including a touch point of the user. Forexample, the thickness, ingredient, and color of food input with regardto a first section 3111 a of the food shape 3111 illustrated in FIG. 56by the user only define the thickness, ingredient, and color of thefirst section 3111 a. In other words, a second section 3111 b, which isnot selected, may have a thickness, ingredient, and color different fromthose of the first section 3111 a.

The controller 1010 may create a food model by using the inputthickness, ingredient, and color of food and the food shape.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may display a plurality of food shapes, and the user may select oneof the plurality of food shapes. In addition, the cooking apparatus 1000or the user equipment 1100 may receive the thickness, ingredient, andcolor of food from the user and create the food model based on theshape, the thickness, ingredient, and color of food.

FIG. 57 illustrates another example of a method of creating a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIGS.58 and 59 illustrate examples of receiving an input of a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The user may use a pre-stored food model to create a food model.

A method of creating a food model (2500) will be described withreference to FIGS. 57, 58, and 59.

A pre-stored food shape is selected in operation 2510.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may allow the userto select a food shape. The food model may include all informationrelated to the food shape such as the shape, thickness, ingredient, andcolor of food.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maydisplay a model creation screen 3120 to create a food model on the userinterface 1020 as illustrated in FIG. 58. The controller 1010 maydisplay a food model selection menu 3121 on the model creation screen3120 in accordance with a touch input of the user. When the usermaintains a touch on the user interface 1020 for a predetermined time orlonger or touches the user interface 1020 twice or more within a giventime, the controller 1010 may display the food model selection menu 3121on the model creation screen 3120.

The food model selection menu 3121 may include food buttons 3121 aindicating various names of food such as cookie, pizza, cake, and stake.The user may confirm the names of food displayed as the plurality offood buttons 3101 a and touch one of the plurality of food buttons 3121a.

In response to the user's selection, the controller 1010 may retrievedata on the selected food shape from the storage 1060 or receive data onthe food shape from an external device via the communicator 1070.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also display the foodmodel creation screen 3120 on the user interface 1120 as illustrated inFIG. 58 and may display the food model selection menu 3121 in accordancewith a touch input of the user.

The food model selected by the user is displayed in operation 2520.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may display ashape of a food selected by the user.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may display the shapeof the food selected by the user on the user interface 1020. Forexample, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may display amodel creation screen 3130 including a food shape 3131 on the userinterface 1020 as illustrated in FIG. 59. The model creation screen 3130may also include a shape modification button 3132 to modify thedisplayed food shape 3111.

When the user touches the shape modification button 3132, the user mayedit the food model 3131 displayed on the model creation screen 3130. Inother words, the user may edit all of the shape, thickness, ingredient,and color of the food.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also display a foodmodel 3131 on the user interface 1020 as illustrated in FIG. 59 inaccordance with a user's selection.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may display a plurality of food models, and the user may select oneof the plurality of food models.

FIG. 60 illustrates a method of creating a food model according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 61 illustrates an example ofacquiring a food image according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In addition, FIG. 62 illustrates an example of displaying afood image according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The user may acquire a food image by using a camera or the like andcreate a food model from the food image.

A method of creating a food model (2900) will be described withreference to FIGS. 60, 61, and 62.

A food image is acquired in operation 2910.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may acquire a food imagevia the image acquisition unit 1140. For example, the user mayphotograph a food F by using the user equipment 1100 as illustrated inFIG. 61. When the user acquires a food image F, the controller 1110 maystore data on the food image in the storage 1160.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may transmit the foodimage to the cooking apparatus 1000 via the communicator 1170 inaccordance with a user's input.

The acquired food image is displayed in operation 2920.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may display the foodimage on the user interface 1120. For example, the controller 1110 maydisplay a model creation screen 3180 including a food image 3181 on theuser interface 1120 as illustrated in FIG. 62. The food image 3181 mayinclude a shape and color of food. The model creation screen 3180 mayinclude a shape modification button 3182 to modify the shape or color ofthe food included in the food image 3181.

When the user touches the shape modification button 3182, the user mayedit the food image 3181 displayed on the model creation screen 3180. Inother words, the user may modify the shape or color of the food of thefood image 3181.

In addition, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may alsodisplay a food image on the user interface 1020. The controller 1010 mayreceive the food image from the user equipment 1100 via the communicator1070 and display the received food image on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 62. The user may also modify the food imagedisplayed on the user interface 1020 of the cooking apparatus 1000.

A thickness and ingredient of food are input in operation 2930.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may allow the userto select the thickness and ingredient of food. As described above, thefood image includes information on the shape and color of the food.Thus, information on the thickness and ingredients of food may furtherbe input additionally to create a food model. For example, when the usertouches the inside of a food image displayed on the user interface 1020or 1120, the user may input the thickness and ingredient of food.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may also estimatea thickness and ingredient of food from the food image. For example, thecontroller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may search for a foodmodel having a shape and color similar to those of the food image amonga plurality of food images stored in the storage 1060. If the food modelhaving the shape and color similar to those of the food image is found,the controller 1010 may match the food image with the food model andestimate the thickness and ingredient of food in accordance with thematched results. Then, the controller 1010 may create a food model byusing the input food image and the thickness and ingredient of food.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may acquire a food image and create a food model from the acquiredfood image.

FIG. 63 illustrates an example of a method of editing a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIGS.64 and 65 illustrate examples of editing a food model according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

After creation of a food model is completed, the user may adjust thesize of the food model.

A method of editing a food model (2600) will be described with referenceto FIGS. 63 and 64.

A food model is created in operation 2610.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of a shape, thickness, ingredient, and color of food from the userand create a food model based on the shape, thickness, ingredient, andcolor of the food.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may also retrievedata on the food model stored in the storage 1060 or 1070 or receivedata on the food model from an external device via the communicator 1070or 1170.

The size of the food model is adjusted in operation 2620.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may display thefood model and the user may adjust the size of the food model.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maydisplay a model editing screen 3140 including a food model 3141 createdon the user interface 1020 as illustrated in FIG. 64.

The controller 1010 may enlarge or reduce the food model 3141 inaccordance with a touch input of the user. When the user touches onepoint of the food model 3141 displayed on the user interface 1020 andthen moves the touch point to the outside of the food model 3141, thecontroller 1010 may enlarge the food model 3141 in accordance with amoving distance of the touch point as illustrated in FIG. 65. In otherwords, as the moving distance of the touch point increases, anenlargement ratio of the food model 3141 may increase. Then, when theuser stops touching, the controller 1010 may enlarge the food model 3141in accordance with a distance from a touch start point to a touch endpoint and display the enlarged food model 3141.

Also, when the user touches one point of the food model 3141 displayedon the user interface 1020 and then moves the touch point to the insideof the food model 3141, the controller 1010 may reduce the food model3141 in accordance with the moving distance of the touch point.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also enlarge orreduce the food model 3141 in accordance with a touch input of the user.

The edited food model is stored in operation 2630.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may store a foodmodel whose size is adjusted.

For example, when the user touches a complete button 3142 included inthe model editing screen 3140, the controller 1010 of the cookingapparatus 1000 may store the size-adjusted food model in the storage1060.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also store thesize-adjusted food model in the storage 1160.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may display the food model and adjust the size of the food model inaccordance with the touch input of the user.

FIG. 66 illustrates another example of the method of editing a foodmodel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition,FIGS. 67, 68, 69, and 70 illustrate examples of editing a food modelaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

After creation of a food model is completed, the user may rearrange thefood model.

A method of emitting a food model (2700) will be described withreference to FIGS. 66, 67, 68, 69, and 70.

A food model is created in operation 2710.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of a shape, thickness, ingredient, and color of food from the userand create a food model based on the shape, thickness, ingredient, andcolor of the food.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may also retrievedata on the food model stored in the storage 1060 or 1070 or receivedata on the food model from an external device via the communicator 1070or 1170.

The food model is rearranged in operation 2720.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may display thefood model and the user may rearrange the food model.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maydisplay a model editing screen 3150 including a created food model 3151on the user interface 1020.

The controller 1010 may copy the food model 3151 in accordance with atouch input of the user. When the user maintains a touch on the foodmodel 3151 displayed on the user interface 1020 for a predetermined timeor longer or touches the food model 3151 twice or more within a giventime, the controller 1010 may display a model copy button 3152 asillustrated in FIG. 67. When the user touches the model copy button3152, the controller 1010 may temporarily store data on the food model3151.

Then, the controller 1010 may arrange the food model 3151 in accordancewith the touch input of the user. When the user maintains a touch on themodel editing screen 3150 at a point where the food model 3151 is notlocated for a predetermined time or longer or touches the point twice ormore within a given time, the controller 1010 may display a modelarrange button 3153 at the touch point as illustrated in FIG. 68. Whenthe user touches the model arrange button 3153, the controller 1010 mayarrange the food model 3151 at the touch point. In other words, thecontroller 1010 may create a new food model 3151 at the touch pointwhile maintaining the previous food model 3151.

The copy of the food model 3151 is not limited to once and the copiedfood model 3151 may be arranged multiple times. Thus, the controller1010 may create, for example, a plurality of food models 3151 a and 3151b from one food model 3151 and arrange the plurality of food models 3151at respective touch points of the user.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also copy the foodmodel 3151 in accordance with the touch input of the user and arrangethe food model 3151 in accordance with the touch input of the user.

As another example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000may display a model editing screen 3160 including a created food model3161 on the user interface 1020.

The controller 1010 may automatically copy and arrange the food model3161 in accordance with a touch input of the user. When the usermaintains a touch on food model 3161 displayed on the user interface1020 for a predetermined time or longer or touches the food model 3161twice or more within a given time, the controller 1010 may display anautomatic model arrange button 3162 as illustrated in FIG. 69.

When the user touches the automatic model arrange button 3162, thecontroller 1010 may arrange the food models 3161 at predetermineddistances D as illustrated in FIG. 70.

Particularly, the controller 1010 may calculate the available number offoods that may be placed in the cooking chamber based on width andheight of the cooking chamber in which the foods may be arranged, widthsof the foods, and intervals between the foods. Then, for example, thecontroller 1010 may copy the food model 3161 by the available number offoods arranged in the cooking chamber and arrange copied food models3161 a to 3161 h in the model editing screen 3160 as illustrated in FIG.70.

Also, the controller 1010 may calculate the available number of foodsthat may be arranged in the cooking chamber based on a ratio of an areawhere the foods may be arranged in the cooking chamber to an area of thefood. Then, the controller 1010 may copy the food model 3161 and arrangethe copied food models 3161 a to 3161 h in the model editing screen 3160as illustrated in FIG. 70.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also rearrange thefood model 3161 in the model editing screen 3160 in accordance with atouch input of the user.

The edited food model is stored in operation 2730.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may store therearranged food model.

For example, when the user touches a complete button 3154 or 3163included in the model editing screen 3150 or 3160, the controller 1010of the cooking apparatus 1000 may store the rearrange food model instorage 1060.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also store therearranged food model in the storage 1160.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may display the food model and rearrange the food model inaccordance with the touch input of the user.

FIG. 71 illustrates a method of generating a preview of food accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 72 illustrates anexample of data to generate a preview of food according to an embodimentof the present disclosure. FIG. 73 illustrates an example of a previewof food according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

After creation of a food model is completed, the user may check apreview of cooked food.

A method of generating a preview of food (2800) will be described withreference to FIGS. 71, 72, and 73.

A food model is created in operation 2810.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of a shape, thickness, ingredient, and color of food from the userand create a food model based on the shape, thickness, ingredient, andcolor of the food.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may also retrievedata on the food model stored in the storage 1060 or 1070 or receivedata on the food model from an external device via the communicator 1070or 1170.

A cooking method is input in operation 2820.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of a selected heating device, a set cooking temperature, and a setcooking time from the user and set a cooking method based on the heatingdevice, the cooking temperature, and cooking time.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may also retrievedata on the cooking method stored in the storage 1060 or 1070 or receivedata on the cooking method from an external device via the communicator1070 or 1170.

A preview of food is displayed in operation 2830.

The cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment 1100 may display apreview of food based on the food model and the cooking method. Thepreview of food represents an appearance of food in the case where thefood is shaped by the food model and cooked according to the cookingmethod.

For example, the controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 maysimulate heating of the food model according to the cooking method. Inparticular, the storage 1060 of the cooking apparatus 1000 may store apreview database to generate a preview of the food model.

The preview database may include data on changes in shapes and colors offood with respect to the ingredient and color of the food model, theheating device, the cooking temperature, and the cooking time. Forexample, the preview database may include changes in color of dough withrespect to cooking temperature and cooking time when a convection heateris operated as illustrated in FIG. 72. Referring to FIG. 72, the colorof food becomes darker as cooking temperature and cooking time increase.

The preview database may further include data on changes in shape offood with respect to cooking temperature and cooking time as well as thechanges in color of food with respect to the cooking temperature and thecooking time.

The controller 1010 may estimate the shape of a cooked food based on theingredient and color of the food model, the heating device, the cookingtemperature, and the cooking time by using the preview database storedin the storage 1060 and display the estimated food shape of food on theuser interface 1020.

For example, the controller 1010 may display a food preview screen 3170as illustrated in FIG. 73. The food preview screen 3170 may include apreview of food 3171 generated based on the ingredient and color of thefood model, the heating device, the cooking temperature, and the cookingtime. The user may check the preview of food and modify the food model.To this end, the food preview screen 3170 may further include amodification button 3172 to modify the food model.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also generate apreview of food based on the ingredient and color of the food model, theheating device, the cooking temperature, and the cooking time.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 or the user equipment1100 may display the preview of food to the user.

FIG. 74 is a block diagram illustrating a cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIGS. 75, 76, and77 illustrate examples of a shaping unit included in the cookingapparatus of the present disclosure.

In order to reduce a food shaping time, the cooking apparatus mayinclude a plurality of shaping units.

Referring to FIGS. 74, 75, 76, and 77, a cooking apparatus 1000 a mayinclude a user interface 1020 configured to interact with a user, atemperature sensing unit 1030 configured to sense temperature of acooking chamber, first and second shaping units (or devices) 1040 a and1040 b configured to shape a food, a heating unit 1050 configured toheat the food, a storage 1060 configured to store programs and data, acommunicator 1070 configured to communicate with an external device, anda controller 1010 configured to control the operation of the cookingapparatus 1000 a.

Since the configurations and operations of the user interface 1020, thetemperature sensing unit 1030, the heating unit 1050, the storage 1060,and the communicator 1070 are the same as those described above withreference to FIG. 37, detailed descriptions thereof will not berepeated.

The first and second shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b may eachindependently shape the food in accordance with a shape, ingredient, andcolor of food input by the user.

The first shaping unit 1040 a may include a first cartridge assembly 200a and a first driving device 120 a. The first cartridge assembly 200 amay contain food ingredients and discharge the food ingredientsaccording to food shaping data of the controller 1010. The first drivingdevice 120 a may move the first cartridge assembly 200 a and locate thefirst cartridge assembly 200 a at a predetermined position according tothe food shaping data of the controller 1010.

The second shaping unit 1040 b may include a second cartridge assembly200 b and a second driving device 120 b. The second cartridge assembly200 b may contain food ingredients and discharge the food ingredientsaccording to food shaping data of the controller 1010. The seconddriving device 120 b may move the second cartridge assembly 200 b andlocate the second cartridge assembly 200 b at a position presetaccording to the food shaping data of the controller 1010.

For example, the first shaping unit 1040 a and the second shaping unit1040 b may move along the moving rods 52 disposed in the cookingapparatus 1000 a as illustrated in FIG. 75. Also, the moving rods 52 maymove along the fixed rods 51 disposed in the cooking apparatus 1000 a.

Particularly, the first shaping unit 1040 a may move within the righthalf of the moving rods 52, and the second shaping unit 1040 b may movewithin the left half of the moving rods 52. As a result, the firstshaping unit 1040 a may shape the food in the right half of the cookingchamber, and the second shaping unit 1040 b may shape the food in theleft half of the cooking chamber.

As described above, the first shaping unit 1040 a may shape the food onthe basis of the right half of the food model, and the second shapingunit 1040 b may shape the food on the basis of the left half of the foodmodel.

As another example, the first shaping unit 1040 a may move along firstmoving rods 52 a disposed in the cooking apparatus 1000 a and the secondshaping unit 1040 b may move along second moving rods 52 b disposed inthe cooking apparatus 1000 a as illustrated in FIG. 76. In addition, thefirst moving rods 52 a and the second moving rods 52 b may move alongthe fixed rods 51.

Particularly, the first moving rods 52 a provided with the first shapingunit 1040 a may move within the front half of the fixed rods 51, and thesecond moving rods 52 b provided with the second shaping unit 1040 b maymove within the rear half of the fixed rods 51. As a result, the firstshaping unit 1040 a may shape the food in the front half of the cookingchamber, and the second shaping unit 1040 b may shape the food in therear half of the cooking chamber.

As described above, the first shaping unit 1040 a may shape the food onthe basis of the front half of the food model, and the second shapingunit 1040 b may shape the food on the basis of the rear half of the foodmodel.

As another example, the first shaping unit 1040 a and the second shapingunit 1040 b may move along the fixed rods 52 disposed in the cookingapparatus 1000 a as illustrated in FIG. 77. The fixed rods 52 are fixedin the cooking chamber. Particularly, the first shaping unit 1040 a maymove within the right half of the fixed rods 52 and the first shapingunit 1040 a may move within the left half of the fixed rods 52.

In addition, a tray 60 on which the food is shaped may be disposed inthe cooking chamber. The tray 60 may rotate by a tray rotation unit 170(e.g., a tray rotation device).

During rotation of the tray 60, the first shaping unit 1040 a and thesecond shaping unit 1040 b may shape the food while moving to the rightand to the left along the fixed rods 52.

The controller 1010 may include a processor 1011 and a memory 1012.

The processor 1011 generates food shaping data to shape the food basedon the food model.

Particularly, the processor 1011 may divide the food model into aplurality of model parts and assign the plurality of model parts to thefirst and second shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b. For example, theprocessor 1011 may divide a food model representing one food into twomodel parts or divide a food model representing a plurality of foodsinto two model parts in accordance with the number of foods.

The processor 1011 may generate food shaping data to shape the foodbased on the plurality of model parts. Each of the first and secondshaping units 1040 a and 1040 b may shape a part of the food inaccordance with food shaping data of each model part.

Also, the processor 1011 may process data on the cooking method inputvia the user interface 1020, received via the communicator 1070, orstored in the storage 1060 and generate food heating data to heat thefood by the cooking method.

The memory 1012 may store a program to receive an input of the foodmodel and the cooking method via the user interface 1020 and a programto process data on the food model and/or data on the cooking method andgenerate food shaping data and/or food heating data.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 a may include theplurality of shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b capable of shaping thefood. The plurality of shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b may operateindependently or interwork with each other to shape the food.Accordingly, the cooking apparatus 1000 a may shape the food morequickly.

FIG. 78 illustrates a method of shaping a food according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIGS. 79 and 80illustrate examples of dividing a food model according to an embodimentof the present disclosure.

A method of shaping a food (4000) will be described with reference toFIGS. 78, 79, and 80.

A food model is created in operation 4010.

The cooking apparatus 1000 a or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of a shape, thickness, ingredient, and color of food from the userand create a food model based on the shape, thickness, ingredient, andcolor of the food.

The cooking apparatus 1000 a or the user equipment 1100 may alsoretrieve data on the food model stored in the storage 1060 or 1070, orreceive data on the food model from an external device via thecommunicator 1070 or 1170.

The food model is divided in operation 4020.

The cooking apparatus 1000 a or the user equipment 1100 may divide thefood model to shape the food quickly.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 a including the firstshaping unit 1040 a and the second shaping unit 1040 b may divide thefood model into two model parts.

For example, the controller 1010 may display a model dividing screen5000 to divide the food model on the user interface 1020 as illustratedin FIG. 79. The model dividing screen 5000 may include a food model 5001and the food model 5001 may represent one food. Also, the food model5001 may be divided into a first model part 5001 a representing one partof the food and a second model part 5001 b representing the other partof the food.

The food model 5001 may be divided into the first model part 5001 a andthe second model part 5001 b based on size of the food. Particularly,the first model part 5001 a and the second model part 5001 b may havethe same size.

Also, the food model 5001 may be divided into the first model part 5001a and the second model part 5001 b based on ingredient. Particularly,ingredients constituting the first model part 5001 a may be similar toeach other and ingredients constituting the second model part 5001 b maybe similar to each other.

The food model 5001 may also be divided into the first model part 5001 aand the second model part 5001 b based on color. Particularly, colorsrepresenting the first model part 5001 a may be similar to each otherand colors representing the second model part 5001 b may be similar toeach other.

As another example, the controller 1010 may display a model dividingscreen 5010 to divide the food model on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 80. The model dividing screen 5010 may include afood model 5011 and the food model 5011 may represent a plurality offoods. The food model 5011 may be divided into a first model part 5011 arepresenting some of a plurality of foods and a second model part 5011 brepresenting the other of the plurality of foods.

The food model 5011 may be divided into the first model part 5011 a andthe second model part 5011 b based on the number of foods. Particularly,the first model part 5011 a and the second model part 5011 b mayrepresent the same number of foods.

Also, the food model 5011 may be divided into the first model part 5011a and the second model part 5011 b based on identity of food.Particularly, a plurality of foods constituting the first model part5011 a may be the same and a plurality of foods constituting the secondmodel part 5011 b may be the same.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also divide the foodmodel into a plurality of model parts and transmit the divided modelparts into the cooking apparatus 1000 a including the first shaping unit1040 a and the second shaping unit 1040 b.

The food is shaped by the plurality of shaping units 1040 a and 1040 bin operation 4030.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 a may assign theplurality of model parts to the plurality of shaping units 1040 a and1040 b. For example, the controller 1010 may assign the first model part5001 a to the first shaping unit 1040 a and the second model part 5001 bto the second shaping unit 1040 b as illustrated in FIG. 79. Also, thecontroller 1010 may assign the first model part 5011 a illustrated inFIG. 80 to the first shaping unit 1040 a and the second model part 5011b to the second shaping unit 1040 b.

Each of the shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b may shape a part of the foodor some of the plurality of foods according to the assigned model part.For example, the first shaping unit 1040 a may shape one part of thefood (pizza) according to the first model part 5001 a illustrated inFIG. 79 and the second shaping unit 1040 b may shape the other part ofthe food (pizza) according to the second model part 5001 b.

The food is heated in operation 4040.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 a may control theheating unit 1050 to heat the food in accordance with the cookingmethod. For example, one of the grill heater, the convection heater, andthe microwave heater may be selected in accordance with the cookingmethod. Also, the selected heating device may be controlled such thatthe temperature of the cooking chamber is maintained at a cookingtemperature during a cooking time.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 a may include a pluralityof shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b and the plurality of shaping units1040 a and 1040 b may each independently shape the food. As a result,the cooking apparatus 1000 a may shape the food more quickly.

FIG. 81 is a block diagram illustrating a cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIG. 82illustrates an appearance of the cooking apparatus according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

In order to reduce a heating time of food, a cooking apparatus mayinclude a plurality of heating units.

Referring to FIGS. 81 and 82, a cooking apparatus 1000 b may include auser interface 1020 configured to interact with a user, a temperaturesensing unit 1030 configured to sense temperature of a cooking chamber,a shaping unit 1040 configured to shape a food, first and second heatingunits or devices 1050 a and 1050 b configured to heat the food, astorage 1060 configured to store programs and data, a communicator 1070configured to communicate with external devices, and a controller 1010configured to control the operation of the cooking apparatus 1000 b.

Since the configurations and operations of the user interface 1020, thetemperature sensing unit 1030, the shaping unit 1040, the storage 1060,and the communicator 1070 are the same as those described above withreference to FIG. 37, detailed descriptions thereof will not berepeated.

Each of the first and second heating units 1050 a and 1050 may includevarious heating devices. For example, each of the first and secondheating units 1050 a and 1050 b may include a grill heater, a convectionheater, a microwave heater, and the like.

In addition, the cooking chamber of the cooking apparatus 1000 b may bepartitioned by a divider. The first and second heating units 1050 a and1050 b may heat foods in partitioned cooking chambers respectively. Forexample, the first heating unit 1050 a may heat the food located in afirst cooking chamber 1001 a and the second heating unit 1050 b may heatthe food located in the second cooking chamber 1001 b as illustrated inFIG. 82.

The first heating unit 1050 a and the second heating unit 1050 b mayindependently operate. The first heating unit 1050 a and the secondheating unit 1050 b may heat the foods in different cooking methods. Forexample, a grill heater of the first heating unit 1050 a may be operatedto heat the food in the first cooking chamber 1001 a and a convectionheater of the second heating unit 1050 b may be operated to heat thefood in the second cooking chamber 1001 b. A partitioning frame 1002 maybe separably disposed in the internal space of the cooking apparatus1000 c, as illustrated in FIG. 82.

As another example, the first heating unit 1050 a may be operated suchthat the temperature of the first cooking chamber 1001 a is maintainedat a first cooking temperature and the second heating unit 1050 b may beoperated such that the temperature of the second cooking chamber 1001 bis maintained at a second cooking temperature.

As another example, the first heating unit 1050 a may be heated for afirst cooking time and the second heating unit 1050 b may operate for asecond cooking time.

The controller 1010 may include a processor 1011 and a memory 1012.

The processor 1011 may process data on the food model input via the userinterface 1020, received via the communicator 1070, or stored in thestorage 1060 and generate food shaping data to shape the food based onthe food model.

The processor 1011 may also process data on the cooking method input viathe user interface 1020, received via the communicator 1070, or storedin the storage 1060 and generate food heating data to heat the foodbased on the cooking method.

Particularly, the processor 1011 may divide the food model into aplurality of model parts and assign the food shaped according to theplurality of model parts to the first and second heating units 1050 aand 1050 b. For example, the processor 1011 may divide a food modelrepresenting one food into two model parts or divide a food modelrepresenting a plurality of foods into two model parts in accordancewith the number of foods.

The processor 1011 may generate food heating data to heat the pluralityof model parts respectively. Each of the first and second heating units1050 a and 1050 b may heat a part of the food in accordance with thefood heating data for each model part.

The memory 1012 may store a program to receive an input of the foodmodel and the cooking method via the user interface 1020 and a programto process data on the food model and/or data on the cooking method andgenerate food shaping data and/or food heating data.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 b may include theplurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 b capable of heating thefood. The plurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 b may operateindependently or interwork with each other to heat the food.Accordingly, the cooking apparatus 1000 b may heat the food morequickly.

FIG. 83 illustrates a method of shaping a food according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIGS. 84 and 85illustrate examples of dividing a food model according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

A method of shaping a food (4100) will be described with reference toFIGS. 83, 84, and 85.

A food model is created in operation 4110.

The cooking apparatus 1000 b or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of a shape, thickness, ingredient, and color of food from the userand create a food model based on the shape, thickness, ingredient, andcolor of the food.

The cooking apparatus 1000 b or the user equipment 1100 may alsoretrieve data on the food model stored in the storage 1060 or 1070, orreceive data on the food model from an external device via thecommunicator 1070 or 1170.

The food model is divided in operation 4120.

The cooking apparatus 1000 b or the user equipment 1100 may divide thefood model to shape the food quickly.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 b including the firstheating unit 1050 a and the second heating unit 1050 b may divide thefood model into two model parts.

For example, the controller 1010 may display a model dividing screen5020 to divide the food model on the user interface 1020 as illustratedin FIG. 84. The model dividing screen 5020 may include a food model 5021and the food model 5021 may represent one food. The food model 5021 mayalso be divided into a first model part 5021 a representing one part ofthe food and a second model part 5021 b representing the other part ofthe food.

The food model 5021 may be divided into the first model part 5021 a andthe second model part 5021 b based on the heating method. For example,one part of the food corresponding to the first model part 5021 a may beheated by a grill heater of the first heating unit 1050 a and the otherpart of the food corresponding to the second model part 5021 b may beheated by a convection heater of the second heating unit 1050 b.

The food model 5021 may also be divided into the first model part 5021 aand the second model part 5021 b based on cooking temperature. Forexample, one part of the food corresponding to the first model part 5021a may be heated at 100° C. and the other part of the food correspondingto the second model part 5021 b may be heated at 120° C.

The food model 5021 may be divided into the first model part 5021 a andthe second model part 5021 b according to cooking time. For example, onepart of the food corresponding to the first model part 5021 a may beheated for 30 minutes and the other part of the food corresponding tothe second model part 5021 b may be heated for 40 minutes.

As another example, the controller 1010 may display a model dividingscreen 5030 to divide the food model on the user interface 1020 asillustrated in FIG. 85. The model dividing screen 5030 may include afood model 5031 and the food model 5031 may represent a plurality offoods. The food model 5031 may be divided in to a first model part 5031a representing some of the foods and a second model part 5031 brepresenting the other of the foods.

The food model 5031 may be divided into the first model part 5021 a andthe second model part 5021 b according to at least one of the heatingmethod, cooking temperature, and cooking time.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may also divide the foodmodel into a plurality of model parts and transmit the divided modelparts into the cooking apparatus 1000 b including the first heating unit1050 a and the second heating unit 1050 b.

The food is shaped in operation 4130.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 b may control theshaping unit 1040 to shape the food in accordance with the plurality ofmodel parts.

The shaping unit 1040 may shape different model parts respectively indifferent cooking chambers 1001 a and 1001 b. For example, the shapingunit 1040 may shape the food corresponding to the first model part 5021a or 5031 a in the first cooking chamber 1001 a and the foodcorresponding to the second model part 5021 b or 5031 b in the secondcooking chamber 1001 b.

The food is heated by the plurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 bin operation 4140.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 b may control theplurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 b to heat the food.

The plurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 b may heat the foodaccording to a plurality of cooking methods respectively. The firstheating unit 1050 a may heat the food shaped in the first cookingchamber 1001 a according to the cooking method for the first model part5021 a or 5031 a. For example, the grill heater of the first heatingunit 1050 a may be operated at 100° C. for 30 minutes to heat the foodin the first cooking chamber 1001 a.

Also, the second heating unit 1050 b may heat the food shaped in thesecond cooking chamber 1001 b according to the cooking method for thesecond model part 5021 b or 5031 b. For example, the convection heaterof the second heating unit 1050 b may be operated at 120° C. for 40minutes to heat the food in the second cooking chamber 1001 b.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 b may include a pluralityof heating units 1050 a and 1050 b. The plurality of heating units 1050a and 1050 b may each independently heat the food. As a result, thecooking apparatus 1000 a may heat the food more quickly.

FIG. 86 is a block diagram illustrating a cooking apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, FIG. 87illustrates an appearance of the cooking apparatus according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

In order to reduce a heating time of food, a cooking apparatus mayinclude a plurality of shaping unit and a plurality of heating units.

Referring to FIGS. 86 and 87, a cooking apparatus 1000 c may include auser interface 1020 configured to interact with a user, a temperaturesensing unit 1030 configured to sense temperature of a cooking chamber,first and second shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b configured to shape afood, first and second heating units 1050 a and 1050 b configured toheat the food, a storage 1060 configured to store programs and data, acommunicator 1070 configured to communicate with external devices, and acontroller 1010 configured to control the operation of the cookingapparatus 1000 c. A partitioning frame 1002 may be separably disposed inthe internal space of the cooking apparatus 1000 c as illustrated inFIG. 87.

Since the configurations and operations of the user interface 1020, thetemperature sensing unit 1030, the storage 1060, and the communicator1070 are the same as those described above with reference to FIG. 37,detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated.

The first and second shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b may eachindependently shape the food in accordance with a shape, ingredient, andcolor of food input by the user. The first shaping unit 1040 a mayinclude a first cartridge assembly 200 a and a first driving device 120a. The second shaping unit 1040 b may include a second cartridgeassembly 200 b and a second driving device 120 b.

In addition, the cooking chamber of the cooking apparatus 1000 c may bepartitioned by a divider. The first and second shaping units 1040 a and1040 b may shape foods in partitioned cooking chambers respectively. Forexample, the first shaping unit 1040 a may be disposed in the firstcooking chamber 1001 a and shape the food in the first cooking chamber1001 a and the second shaping unit 1040 b may be disposed in the secondcooking chamber 1001 b and shape the food in the second cooking chamber1001 b as illustrated in FIG. 87.

Each of the first and second heating units 1050 a and 1050 b may includevarious heating devices. For example, the first and second heating units1050 a and 1050 b may respectively include a grill heater, a convectionheater, a microwave heater, and the like.

In addition, the first and second heating units 1050 a and 1050 b mayeach independently heat foods respectively disposed in the dividedcooking chambers. For example, the first heating unit 1050 a may heatthe food disposed in the first cooking chamber 1001 a and the secondheating unit 1050 b may heat the food disposed in the second cookingchamber 1001 b as illustrated in FIG. 87.

The controller 1010 may include a processor 1011 and a memory 1012.

Particularly, the processor 1011 may divide the food model into aplurality of model parts and assign the plurality of model parts to thefirst and second shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b. The processor 1011 maygenerate food shaping data to shape the food based on the plurality ofmodel parts. The processor 1011 may also generate food heating data toheat each of the plurality of model parts and each of the first andsecond heating units 1050 a and 1050 b may heat a part of food inaccordance with food heating data for each model part.

The memory 1012 may store a program to receive an input of the foodmodel and the cooking method via the user interface 1020 and a programto process data on the food model and/or data on the cooking method andgenerate food shaping data and/or food heating data.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 c may include theplurality of shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b capable of shaping the foodand the plurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 b capable of heatingthe food. Thus, the cooking apparatus 1000 c may shape and heat the foodmore quickly.

FIG. 88 illustrates a method of shaping a food according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

A method of shaping a food (4200) will be described with reference toFIG. 88.

A food model is created in operation 4210.

The cooking apparatus 1000 c or the user equipment 1100 may receive aninput of a shape, thickness, ingredient, and color of food from the userand create a food model based on the shape, thickness, ingredient, andcolor of the food.

The cooking apparatus 1000 c or the user equipment 1100 may alsoretrieve data on the food model stored in the storage 1060 or 1070 orreceive data on the food model from an external device via thecommunicator 1070 or 1170.

The food model is divided in operation 4220.

The cooking apparatus 1000 c or the user equipment 1100 may divide thefood model to shape the food quickly.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 c including the firstand second shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b and the first and secondheating units 1050 a and 1050 b may divide the food model into two modelparts.

The food model may be divided into a first model part and a second modelpart according to various criteria. For example, the food model may bedivided into the first model part and the second model part according toat least one of the shape (size), ingredient, and color of the food. Asanother example, the food model may be divided into the first model partand the second model part according to at least one of the heatingmethod, cooking temperature, and cooking time.

The food is shaped by the plurality of shaping units 1040 a and 1040 bin operation 4230.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 c may assign theplurality of model parts to the plurality of shaping units 1040 a and1040 b. Each of the shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b may shape a part ofthe food or some of the plurality of foods according to the assignedmodel part.

The food is heated by the plurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 bin operation 4240.

The controller 1010 of the cooking apparatus 1000 c may control theplurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 b to heat the food. Theplurality of heating units 1050 a and 1050 b may heat the food accordingto a plurality of cooking methods respectively.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 1000 c may include a pluralityof shaping units 1040 a and 1040 b and a plurality of heating units 1050a and 1050 b. As a result, the cooking apparatus 1000 c may shape thefood and heat the food more quickly.

The methods of shaping/heating the food according to the food model byusing a single cooking apparatus have been described above. Hereinafter,a method of shaping/heating a food according to a food model by aplurality of cooking apparatuses will be described.

FIG. 89 illustrates an example of a method of cooking a food by acooking system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.FIG. 90 illustrates an example of assigning a food model by the cookingsystem according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 91illustrates another example of assigning the food model by the cookingsystem according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In a cooking system including a plurality of cooking apparatuses and auser equipment, a food model may be assigned to the plurality of cookingapparatuses. Also, each of the plurality of cooking apparatuses mayshape/heat a food.

A method of cooking a food (4300) will be described with reference toFIGS. 89, 90, and 91.

A food model is created in operation 4310.

The user equipment 1100 may receive an input of a shape, thickness,ingredient, and color of food from the user and create a food modelbased on the shape, thickness, ingredient, and color of the food. Theuser equipment 1100 may also retrieve data on the food model stored inthe storage or receive data on the food model from an external devicevia the communicator.

One of the plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2 may createthe food model. A detailed method of creating the food model may be thesame as that of the user equipment 1100.

The food model is divided and assigned to the plurality of cookingapparatuses in operation 4320.

The user equipment 1100 may divide the food model to shape the food morequickly. The food model may be divided according to the number of thecooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2. The user equipment 1100 mayassign a plurality of model parts divided from the food model to theplurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2. The user equipment1100 may also transmit data on the assigned model parts to the pluralityof cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2 respectively.

For example, the user equipment 1100 may divide a food model 5040representing one food into a first model part 5041 representing one partof the food and a second model part 5042 representing the other part ofthe food.

The food model 5040 may be divided into the first model part 5041 andthe second model part 5042 according to various criteria. The food model5040 may be divided into the first model part 5041 and the second modelpart 5042 according to at least one of the shape (size), ingredient, andcolor of the food.

The user equipment 1100 may transmit the first model part 5041 to thefirst cooking apparatus 1000-1 and the second model part 5042 to thesecond cooking apparatus 1000-2 as illustrated in FIG. 90.

Also, while transmitting the first and second model parts 5041 and 5042respectively to the first and second cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and1000-2, the user equipment 1100 may simultaneously transmit cookingmethods for the first and second model parts 5041 and 5042 respectivelyto the first and second cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2.

Since the first and second model parts 5041 and 5042 represent parts ofone food, the cooking methods for the first and second model parts 5041and 5042 may be the same. Thus, the user equipment 1100 may transmit thesame cooking method to both the first cooking apparatus 1000-1 and thesecond cooking apparatus 1000-2.

As another example, the user equipment 1100 may divide a food model 5050representing a plurality of foods into a first model part 5051representing some of the foods and a second mode part 5052 representingthe other of the foods.

The food model 5050 may be divided into the first model part 5051 andthe second model part 5052 according to various criteria. The food model5050 may be divided into the first model part 5051 and the second modelpart 5052 according to at least one of the heating method, cookingtemperature, and cooking time.

In addition, the user equipment 1100 may transmit the first model part5041 to the first cooking apparatus 1000-1 and the second model part5052 to the second cooking apparatus 1000-2 as illustrated in FIG. 91.

Also, while transmitting the first and second model parts 5051 and 5052respectively to the first and second cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and1000-2, the user equipment 1100 may simultaneously transmit cookingmethods for the first and second model parts 5041 and 5052 to the firstand second cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2.

Since the first and second model parts 5041 and 5042 represent differentfoods, the cooking methods for the first and second model parts 5041 and5042 may be different. Thus, the user equipment 1100 may transmitdifferent cooking methods to the first cooking apparatus 1000-1 and thesecond cooking apparatus 1000-2.

One of the plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2 may dividethe food model and assign the divided model parts to the plurality ofcooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2. Detailed division and assignmentmethods are the same as those of the user equipment 1000.

The food is shaped and heated by the plurality of cooking apparatuses1000-1 and 1000-2 in operation 4330.

Each of the plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2 may shapeand heat the food in accordance with the model part and cooking methodreceived from the user equipment 1100.

For example, the first cooking apparatus 1000-1 may shape one part ofthe food according to the received first model part 5041 and heat thepart of the food according to the cooking method for the first modelpart 5041. Also, the second cooking apparatus 1000-2 may shape one partof the food according to the received second model part 5042 and heatthe part of the food according to the cooking method for the secondmodel part 5042.

Since the first and second model parts 5041 and 5042 represent parts ofone food, the food cooked by the first cooking apparatus 1000-1 may bethe same as the food cooked by the second cooking apparatus 1000-2.Also, the food cooked by the first cooking apparatus 1000-1 and the foodcooked by the second cooking apparatus 1000-2 may constitute one food.

As another example, the first cooking apparatus 1000-1 may shape onepart of the food according to the received first model part 5051 andheat the part according to a first cooking method for the first modelpart 5051. Also, the second cooking apparatus 1000-2 may shape the otherpart of the food according to the received second model part 5052 andheat the part according to a second cooking method for the second modelpart 5052.

Since the first model part 5041 and the second model part 5042 representdifferent foods, the food cooked by the first cooking apparatus 1000-1may be different from the food cooked by the second cooking apparatus1000-2.

As described above, the food model may be divided into the plurality ofmodel parts and the plurality of model parts may be assigned to theplurality of cooking apparatuses. In addition, each of the plurality ofcooking apparatuses may shape and heat the food according to theassigned model part. As a result, the user may cook one food or aplurality of foods more quickly by using the plurality of cookingapparatuses.

FIG. 92 illustrates another example of the method of cooking a food bythe cooking system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.FIGS. 93 and 94 illustrate examples of a model dividing screen to dividea food model by the cooking system according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure. In addition, FIG. 95 illustrates an example ofdividing a food model by the cooking system according to an embodimentof the present disclosure.

In a cooking system including a plurality of cooking apparatuses and auser equipment, a food model may be assigned to a plurality of cookingapparatuses according to operating states of the cooking apparatuses.

A method of cooking a food (4400) will be described with reference toFIGS. 92, 93, 94, and 95.

A food model is created in operation 4410.

The user equipment 1100 may receive an input of a shape, thickness,ingredient, and color of food from the user and create a food modelbased on the shape, thickness, ingredient, and color of the food. Theuser equipment 1100 may also retrieve data on the food model stored inthe storage or receive data on the food model from an external devicevia the communicator.

One of a plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3 maycreate a food model. A detailed method of creating the food model may bethe same as that of the user equipment 1100.

State information of the plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1,1000-2, and 1000-3 is displayed in operation 4420.

The user equipment 1100 may receive state information of the pluralityof cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3 from the plurality ofcooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3.

For example, the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may requestthe plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3 forstate information thereof via the communicator 1170. In response to therequest of the user equipment 1100, the plurality of cooking apparatuses1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3 may transmit the state information to theuser equipment 1100. The state information transmitted by the pluralityof cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3 may includeinformation on whether or not the cooking apparatus is malfunctioning,information on whether or not the cooking apparatus is operating, aremaining cooking time until the cooking operation is completed, and thelike.

The user equipment 1100 may display the state information of theplurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3.

For example, the controller 1110 may display a state notification screen5060 indicating state information of the plurality of cookingapparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3 on the user interface 1120 asillustrated in FIG. 93. The state notification screen 5060 may include aplurality of cooking apparatus images 5061, 5063, and 5065 respectivelyrepresenting the plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and1000-3. Also, the state notification screen 5060 may include a pluralityof state information images 5062, 5064, and 5066 respectivelyrepresenting state information of the plurality of cooking apparatuses1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3.

The user may confirm the states of the respective cooking apparatuses1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3 via the plurality of cooking apparatus images5061, 5063, and 5065 and the plurality of state information images 5062,5064, and 5066 displayed on the state notification screen 5060.Particularly, the user may determine that the cooking apparatuses 1000-1and 1000-2 are available for cooking and the cooking apparatus 1000-3 isnot available for cooking.

One of the plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3may display the state information of the plurality of cookingapparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3. A detailed method of displayingthe state information may be the same as that of the user equipment1100.

The food model is assigned in operation 4430.

The user equipment 1100 may assign the food model to the plurality ofcooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3 in accordance with ause's input and transmit the food model to the plurality of cookingapparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3.

For example, the controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may displaya model assigning screen 5070 to assign the food model in accordancewith a user's input on the user interface 1120 as illustrated in FIG.94. The model assigning screen 5070 may include a plurality of cookingapparatus images 5071, 5073, and 5075 respectively representing theplurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3. The modelassigning screen 5070 may further include model input regions 5072,5074, and 5076 to input the food model assigned to the plurality ofcooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3.

The user may input the assigned food model to the model input regions5072, 5074, and 5076 in accordance with the states of the plurality ofcooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3. For example, the usermay input the food model to the cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2which are available for cooking.

The controller 1110 of the user equipment 1100 may assign the food modelto the cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2 according to the food modelinput to the model input regions 5072, 5074, and 5076 by the user. Inaddition, the controller 1110 may transmit data on the food model andthe cooking method to the cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2 via thecommunicator 1170 as illustrated in FIG. 60.

One of the plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1, 1000-2, and 1000-3may assign the food model. A detailed method of assigning the food modelmay be the same as that of the user equipment 1100.

The food is shaped and heated by the plurality of cooking apparatuses1000-1 and 1000-2 in operation 4440.

Each of the plurality of cooking apparatuses 1000-1 and 1000-2 that havereceived data on the food model may shape and heat the food and inaccordance with the food model and the cooking method received from theuser equipment 1100.

As described above, the user may check the states of the plurality ofcooking apparatuses and assign the food model respectively to thecooking apparatuses. In addition, each of the cooking apparatuses mayshape and heat the food in accordance with the food model assignedthereto. As a result, the user may cook one food or a plurality of foodsmore quickly by using the plurality of cooking apparatuses.

Embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above. In theembodiments described above, some components may be implemented as a“module”. Here, the term ‘module’ means, but is not limited to, asoftware and/or hardware component, such as a field programmable gatearray (FPGA) or application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), whichperforms certain tasks. A module may advantageously be configured toreside on the addressable storage medium and configured to execute onone or more processors.

Thus, a module may include, by way of example, components, such assoftware components, object-oriented software components, classcomponents and task components, processes, functions, attributes,procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware,microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays,and variables. The operations provided for in the components and modulesmay be combined into fewer components and modules or further separatedinto additional components and modules. In addition, the components andmodules may be implemented such that they execute one or more centralprocessing units (CPUs) in a device.

With that being said, and in addition to the above describedembodiments, embodiments can thus be implemented through computerreadable code/instructions in/on a medium, e.g., a computer readablemedium, to control at least one processing element to implement anyabove described embodiment. The medium can correspond to anymedium/media permitting the storing and/or transmission of the computerreadable code.

The computer-readable code can be recorded on a medium or transmittedthrough the Internet. The medium may include ROM, RAM, compact disc-ROM(CD-ROMs), magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and optical recording medium.Also, the medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Themedia may also be a distributed network, so that the computer readablecode is stored or transferred and executed in a distributed fashion.Still further, as only an example, the processing element could includeat least one processor or at least one computer processor, andprocessing elements may be distributed and/or included in a singledevice.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A user equipment configured to transmit a foodmodel to a cooking apparatus comprising a food shaping device configuredto discharge food ingredients, the user equipment comprising: a userinterface including a touch-sensitive display, the user interfaceconfigured to: receive a touch input from a user for selecting the foodmodel comprising at least one of a shape, an ingredient, or a color of afood, and display in response to the received touch input: an automaticcooking button for selecting a predetermined food shape, a draw buttonfor inputting a food shape drawn on the user interface by the user, acooking method button for inputting a cooking method for the food, andan output button for outputting instructions for making food inaccordance with the selected predetermined food shape and the inputcooking method; a transceiver configured to transmit information of theselected food model to the cooking apparatus; a camera configured toacquire a food image; and a processor configured to: control thetransceiver to transmit the information of the food model to the cookingapparatus to instruct the cooking apparatus to shape the food accordingto the selected food model, and display a preview of the food, thepreview of the food representing an appearance of the food after cookingby the cooking apparatus.
 2. The user equipment according to claim 1,wherein the processor is further configured to control the userinterface to display a list of food shapes on the user interface inresponse to a touch on the automatic cooking button.
 3. The userequipment according to claim 2, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: identify food ingredients prepared in the cookingapparatus, and control the user interface to display a list of foodsshapeable from the food ingredients.
 4. The user equipment according toclaim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to control the userinterface to display a food shape selected by the user.
 5. The userequipment according to claim 2, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to control the transceiver to transmit the food modelcomprising the selected food shape to the cooking apparatus to allow thecooking apparatus to shape the food according to the food shape selectedby the user.
 6. The user equipment according to claim 5, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: identify food ingredients preparedin the cooking apparatus, and control the user interface to display aninsufficient food ingredient to shape the food according to the foodshape selected by the user.
 7. The user equipment according to claim 1,wherein the processor is further configured to control the userinterface to display a model drawing screen to draw the food shapeselected by the user on the user interface in response to a touch on thedraw button.
 8. The user equipment according to claim 7, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: sense a touch point of the user, andcreate a food shape based on a moving path of the sensed touch point. 9.The user equipment according to claim 7, wherein the processor isfurther configured to control the user interface to display a referenceimage representing the food on the model drawing screen.
 10. The userequipment according to claim 7, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: control the user interface to display at least one of aline, a circle, or a polygon in accordance with a touch input of theuser in a model drawing region, and create the food shape from the atleast one of the line, the circle, and the polygon.
 11. The userequipment according to claim 7, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to control the user interface to display an additionalinformation input menu to input a thickness, an ingredient, and a colorof the food based on the user touching an inside of the food shape. 12.The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to control the user interface to display a cookingmethod setting screen to input a cooking method comprising a heatingtemperature and a heating time in response to a touch on the cookingmethod button.
 13. The user equipment according to claim 12, wherein theprocessor is further configured to control the transceiver to transmitthe cooking method to the cooking apparatus to allow the cookingapparatus to cook the food according to the heating temperature and theheating time input via the cooking method setting screen.
 14. The userequipment according to claim 1, wherein the preview of the foodrepresents the appearance of the food after the food is cooked accordingto a heating temperature and a heating time input by the user.
 15. Theuser equipment according to claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to modify a size of the food shape in accordance with thetouch input of the user.
 16. The user equipment according to claim 1,wherein the processor is further configured to automatically arrange thefood shape in accordance with the touch input of the user.